Every now and then, I’m reminded how blessed I am to have the job I do. Earlier this month, I gave a presentation to the Baton Rouge Rotary Club. They are one of the largest of the 30,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide and home to over 500 businesses in the Capital area. Baton Rouge’s Rotary has been together since 1918! Speaking to them is always a privilege. Read more
I first became involved in the ACA (technically the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act combined with the Health Care Education Reconciliation Act of 2010) way back in January 2009. Read more
It’s become a fact of life here in the United States that we’ve managed to create a healthcare system NO ONE can afford to use if they are paying out of their own pockets.
This is especially true for people living with incomes at or slightly above the federal poverty level (FPL). Read more
One of the things you learned very quickly while growing up in our household was, “Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know!” That was my dad’s way of saying that we were poor. Not grinding-into-the ground, begging-for-food poor, but we started out with much less than our neighbors had. In fact, I was born into a 35-foot travel trailer in my Maw Maw’s back yard in 1961. And within two years, I had had two sisters, too! Read more
I talk about the nuances of funding health insurance all the time. From big ideas on how to reduce spending and how the pharmacy industry works, to rebates and profit margin limitations, I’ve hit a lot of topics in Straight Talk (and most of those are just in the past few months!). Read more
As time passes and you watch your health insurance premiums creep upward, as has unfortunately happened quite a bit in the past few years, it’s good to remember that fully 26% of that premium is used to buy nothing but prescription drugs for our members. I’ve written about this before, but here’s how each dollar in premiums paid by our members broke down in 2021: Read more
