Self-Funded With Spencer

“It's the second largest line item that a company has, but they will stroke a check every month for a fully insured program without having data to support what those costs are for.” - Stephanie Koch Stephanie Koch joined the show to share what it was like to work in benefits and HR in a fully funded company before moving to one that self-funds. I invited Stephanie on to

“I realized that 95% of the scheduled surgeries, like shoulder/knee repairs, back fusions, even some pelvic floor surgeries, they're no more effective than doing nothing at all, on average.” - Heidi Ojha Heidi Ojha, founder of Aware Health and recently a part of our MSK roundtable, joined me this week in studio to talk about why there are so many unnecessary surgeries perfo

“In what other industry are you just not covered up with business if you're cheaper and better? This is America, for God's sake." - Keith Smith This is a special episode with a special guest: Dr. Keith Smith from the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. Keith realized in the 1990s that the surgery system in America was exploitative and unfair, and decided to “rebel”, set

"No one wins alone. And you know what? You can't do it on your own." - John Butler John Butler, from JB Benefits Consulting, joined the show this week to talk the big-picture future of health insurance. From AI sales tools to ICHRA plans to Health Sharing Plans, John Butler is constantly thinking about the future of this industry, and it was fun to hear about how h

"I don't believe that random doctors should treat random patients in ongoing continuity of care. I don't think that transactional care is good for patients, and I know it's not good for physicians." - Chris Mathew The great Chris Mathew, Chief Growth Officer at Sniffle, joined me to talk about the future of Telehealth and the amazingly cost-effective ($15 a month!) benefits plan th

Does bone-on-bone contact always lead to pain? What's the best way to get good, new solutions in the hands of brokers? How many MSK surgeries are really necessary? Chris Hamilton, Heidi Ojha, and Mark Testa joined me in studio to answer those questions and many more in this special bonus episode of Self-Funded with Spencer, The MSK Roundtable. Key Links for Social: @SelfFun

"I always knew there was more. I always knew there was a different dimension to what this personnel or HR thing was." - Monica Panetta Monica Panetta, Chief People Officer at ParetoHealth (a show sponsor and the company I work for), joined me for an evening podcast in studio as we talked all things HR/People, starting with why the industry has moved away from saying HR. M

"I think the more questions the employer asks, and just the deeper that they're willing to think about this and have already thought about it, the more they're able to buy into this mission." - Russell Pekala Russell Pekala, co-founder of Yuzu Health, joined me in studio for this week’s episode focused on controlling pharmacy costs and emergency claims. Yu

“To me, a private equity firm should never look at a healthcare vertical and say, God, there's opportunity there. That means that there's profit exploitation to be had in those areas.” - Taylor Rogers Taylor Rogers, former professional baseball pitcher turned insurance consultant, joined me this week for a podcast focused on profit exploitation in the current healthca

“You can have the same provider, same treatment, two different locations, different outcomes.” - Gentry Lynn Gentry Lynn, VP at Healthcare Bluebook, joined me this week to discuss what it means to actually make an impact in this industry, why there’s so much cost variance between locations, and how we can more effectively engage members to use new solutions. One of the key