1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,160
Speaker 1: So here's something we can all relate to. I Joe Geddy,

2
00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,600
Speaker 1: came across a handful of articles I read with interest

3
00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,800
Speaker 1: lately with headlines like from the New York Times health insures,

4
00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,960
Speaker 1: lucrative alliance that drives up patients' bills, Wall Street Journals.

5
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,239
Speaker 1: Seeing a doctor doesn't have to be so frustrating Wall

6
00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:20,360
Speaker 1: Street Journal Again, hidden hospital fees cost patients hundreds of dollars.

7
00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,160
Speaker 1: And it all boils down to it seems like the

8
00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,320
Speaker 1: patient doctor patient hospital relationship has gotten more screwed up,

9
00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,559
Speaker 1: more complicated, and less satisfying for all concerned, except perhaps

10
00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,160
Speaker 1: for players behind the scenes. And we thought we would

11
00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:37,680
Speaker 1: invite to Craig Gottwaldtz on the air. Craig the healthcare

12
00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,520
Speaker 1: GURUH has actually recently made a professional change to the

13
00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,560
Speaker 1: Mahoney Group for reasons that I think are at least

14
00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:46,479
Speaker 1: somewhat related to those headlines.

15
00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,479
Speaker 2: Craig, how are you, sir? I am fantastic. How are you, gentlemen?

16
00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:57,200
Speaker 1: I'm so terrific. I'm another failure of American healthcare. Yes, yes, so, Craig,

17
00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,200
Speaker 1: would you agree that? Or what do you take away

18
00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:05,360
Speaker 1: from those headlines combined with what you observe yourself dealing

19
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:06,280
Speaker 1: with the health.

20
00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,080
Speaker 2: And benefits and that srhythm well.

21
00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,320
Speaker 3: First and foremost kudos to the mainstream media for digging

22
00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:14,880
Speaker 3: up there, rolling up their sleeves and digging in and

23
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:16,760
Speaker 3: trying to get to the bottom of the issue, because

24
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,319
Speaker 3: they're doing a pretty decent job at this point. The

25
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,440
Speaker 3: short answer is, I know this is going to shock you, gentlemen,

26
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,960
Speaker 3: coming from a freedom loving, libertarian minded soul like yourselves,

27
00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,240
Speaker 3: that seventy five years of a government health care complex

28
00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:37,080
Speaker 3: and enormous corporations in bed with the federal government make

29
00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,720
Speaker 3: for a bureaucracy that leaves the patient last. And it's

30
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,840
Speaker 3: just it's boiling to a head, as we've seen, and

31
00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,080
Speaker 3: it's just it's something that can't be it can't be

32
00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:51,360
Speaker 3: understated how brutal this is, and how many middlemen are

33
00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,920
Speaker 3: in the pie, making gobs of money and trying to

34
00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,040
Speaker 3: do what's best for their bottom line or their shareholder's

35
00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,440
Speaker 3: bottom line, and not best for the the customer, which

36
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:02,680
Speaker 3: in this case is the patient.

37
00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:05,840
Speaker 1: Boiling to a head is the worst phrase i've her today.

38
00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,120
Speaker 1: Let's try to stay away from that. Yeah, so you know,

39
00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,760
Speaker 1: festering is better. I've said so many times that the

40
00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,760
Speaker 1: idea that big, if we just make a big, huge

41
00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,840
Speaker 1: government that'll stand up for the little guy as opposed

42
00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:22,680
Speaker 1: to the lobbyists to go to the seat of the

43
00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:24,840
Speaker 1: federal government and write them enormous checks. I mean, this

44
00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,480
Speaker 1: is an example of it. I remember Stephen Brill in

45
00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,320
Speaker 1: his great book Bitter Pill, said that the government is

46
00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,080
Speaker 1: involved where it shouldn't be, and not involved where it

47
00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:34,480
Speaker 1: should be.

48
00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, and honestly not involved where it should be. I'd

49
00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:41,440
Speaker 3: have to sit down with Stephen for a bit and

50
00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:44,600
Speaker 3: have him tell me where should the government be more

51
00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,680
Speaker 3: involved in healthcare? I mean, you know, arguably maybe in

52
00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:51,200
Speaker 3: a safety net program, but even that is so hard

53
00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,280
Speaker 3: to accept because when Medicaid, which is our it's our

54
00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,960
Speaker 3: product for the low income folks in America. When that

55
00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:00,560
Speaker 3: first came into play in the late sixties, it was

56
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,959
Speaker 3: designed to cover the bottom two percent of earners in

57
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,440
Speaker 3: the United States. It now covers one third, and something

58
00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:10,840
Speaker 3: like thirty five to forty percent of all babies are

59
00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,359
Speaker 3: born onto Medicaid. So if you let the government in anywhere,

60
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:16,600
Speaker 3: you get this creep a third.

61
00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,080
Speaker 1: And the government compensation of doctors and hospitals is so

62
00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,440
Speaker 1: brutally low. That perverts the system too.

63
00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:25,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a huge problem. Right.

64
00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,000
Speaker 3: There's actually a cartel like a game going on here

65
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,840
Speaker 3: behind the scenes, because what's happening is the government is

66
00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,720
Speaker 3: artificially keeping payments incredibly low, particularly in Medicaid, not so

67
00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,520
Speaker 3: bad in Medicare, but they keep it incredibly low, and

68
00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:43,360
Speaker 3: then with a wink and a nod, they say to

69
00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,320
Speaker 3: the hospitals, the large hospital chains, go ahead and charge three, four,

70
00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,320
Speaker 3: five hundred percent of what Medicare would pay when you

71
00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,560
Speaker 3: bill the four national insurance companies, and then let employers

72
00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,480
Speaker 3: go ahead and pay those rates. And that way we'll

73
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,200
Speaker 3: have enough cash coming into the system by and large

74
00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,000
Speaker 3: that everybody you'll be able to be just fine. And we,

75
00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:07,920
Speaker 3: the politicians that are behind this scheme, ultimately will look

76
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,200
Speaker 3: good because we can point to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement

77
00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,240
Speaker 3: rates and say, see how low we negotiate them, See

78
00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,880
Speaker 3: how good we're doing. We're doing right by the little guy.

79
00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,600
Speaker 3: We need national health care. That's exactly the scam, Joe.

80
00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:24,160
Speaker 1: So it's a gigantic hidden tax on people who have

81
00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:28,680
Speaker 1: their own insurance. It just occurred to me exactly that,

82
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,839
Speaker 1: and I go ahead, Jack, Sorry, there are all these

83
00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:38,360
Speaker 1: forces that want to push toward government healthcare, but there

84
00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,560
Speaker 1: are are there any forces pushing against that? Are there

85
00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:44,120
Speaker 1: any forces pushing from the other side other than maybe

86
00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:45,080
Speaker 1: individual patients?

87
00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:51,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, there increasingly is larger employers. Employers will

88
00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,760
Speaker 3: at least say three hundred employees or more are now learning.

89
00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,720
Speaker 3: There's a growing trend you don't have to play this game.

90
00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,359
Speaker 3: You can opt out entirely. I always say, if you

91
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,960
Speaker 3: recognize the logo on your insurance card, you are their

92
00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,600
Speaker 3: profit and you're being farmed. But what employers can do

93
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,320
Speaker 3: now and again this has grown from one percent of

94
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,920
Speaker 3: employers four years ago to now four percent of employers

95
00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,240
Speaker 3: are doing this is they're saying enough, We're not even

96
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,080
Speaker 3: going to rent one of these large ppo networks. We're

97
00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,640
Speaker 3: going to have direct contracts with hospitals and providers, and

98
00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:27,200
Speaker 3: we're going to negotiate better deals based upon reasonable reimbursements.

99
00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:29,440
Speaker 3: We're not going to play in the Ponzi scheme anymore.

100
00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,400
Speaker 3: So it's unbelievable. It's been a renaissance in my career

101
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,680
Speaker 3: Jack and Joe, unlike I ever thought was possible. And

102
00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,000
Speaker 3: I think there's a serious chance this could save healthcare

103
00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:44,440
Speaker 3: from sliding into the oblivion of where people just get

104
00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,479
Speaker 3: so fed up they say, let the government do it all.

105
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,320
Speaker 1: We're talking to Craig Gottwaals, Craig the healthcare guru. That's

106
00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,800
Speaker 1: going to put the squeeze on the politicians though, because

107
00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,160
Speaker 1: they've been getting away with giving a dollar's worth of

108
00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:00,120
Speaker 1: medical care for a dime and then sticking the consumers

109
00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,360
Speaker 1: with the rest of the bill. If employers are successful

110
00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,920
Speaker 1: in those negotiations, won't that increase the pressure on them?

111
00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,160
Speaker 3: Yes, it will, And it's been actually kind of fascinating

112
00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,479
Speaker 3: to watch because you have this inherent conflict going on

113
00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,960
Speaker 3: at the political level. Politicians like to talk about how,

114
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,480
Speaker 3: for example, transparency is good, we need more transparency healthcare

115
00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:23,359
Speaker 3: is bad, and a lot of these people in Congress

116
00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,159
Speaker 3: don't really understand what's going on in the medical system.

117
00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,400
Speaker 3: So they have passed legislation increasing the transparency that we're

118
00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,240
Speaker 3: now having we have access to to pay these claims,

119
00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,200
Speaker 3: which has been phenomenal for those of us in the

120
00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,440
Speaker 3: free market healthcare space because we can latch onto those

121
00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,400
Speaker 3: numbers and use them to negotiate these better deals. So

122
00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,799
Speaker 3: now you're getting this friction internally where those who really

123
00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,559
Speaker 3: understand and are truly cynical at the political level don't

124
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,200
Speaker 3: want the transparency. But the cat's kind of out of

125
00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,839
Speaker 3: the bag because Trump pushed this stuff into legislation and

126
00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,680
Speaker 3: so far, excuse me, the Biden. So maybe that wasn't

127
00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,919
Speaker 3: such a Freudian slip. The other the Biden Obama administration

128
00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,440
Speaker 3: has embraced it and continue this tendency. So I don't

129
00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:08,680
Speaker 3: know that they're going to be able to put the

130
00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:11,560
Speaker 3: hidden costs back in. I think this is going to

131
00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,000
Speaker 3: get out, and I think freedom is going to win,

132
00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,360
Speaker 3: or at least has the best chance I've seen it

133
00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:18,600
Speaker 3: have since the passage of Obamacare.

134
00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:20,680
Speaker 1: Guys, that's the first time we've talked to you or

135
00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:22,040
Speaker 1: you've been optimistic ever.

136
00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:25,080
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, well, a lot of it has to

137
00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,000
Speaker 3: do with a career change that I made as well.

138
00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 3: So okay, right, So I take you doing this from

139
00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,560
Speaker 3: a free market. From a free market standpoint, I'm not.

140
00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,960
Speaker 3: I'm not burdened by banks and Wall Street and private

141
00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,120
Speaker 3: equity anymore. I truly am with a small, nimble, privately

142
00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,200
Speaker 3: held group that's willing to fight this fight.

143
00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm just I'm I got to believe if

144
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,120
Speaker 1: social security is the third rail of American politics, that

145
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,040
Speaker 1: the big healthcare plans are something close to that, and

146
00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,840
Speaker 1: it's so easy to demagog them. I guess as a voter,

147
00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,880
Speaker 1: as a as a talk show host posts. So pushing

148
00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,120
Speaker 1: for transparency is one thing that's that we can do

149
00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,760
Speaker 1: even if we don't fully understand all the issues involved.

150
00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,680
Speaker 1: Would you say, that's like job number one? That is

151
00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:13,440
Speaker 1: job number one.

152
00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:15,160
Speaker 3: And one of the other things that you guys have

153
00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:17,720
Speaker 3: seen and I've heard you talk about is the whole

154
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,760
Speaker 3: idea of concierge care where you pay a monthly fee

155
00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,280
Speaker 3: and you go and get you get a personal relationship

156
00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,360
Speaker 3: with that doctor. Well, that's something we're embracing in the

157
00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,800
Speaker 3: Freedom community where we're saying, hey, let's build that into

158
00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:32,360
Speaker 3: the health plan. Let's not even have one of those big,

159
00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:36,240
Speaker 3: those big four national carriers out there. Instead, let's direct

160
00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:39,680
Speaker 3: contract with those concierge providers. Let's pay the fee for

161
00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:42,600
Speaker 3: the employees. We call it direct primary care when we

162
00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,120
Speaker 3: do it at the employer level. And then let's use

163
00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,400
Speaker 3: a fair reimbursement system for everything that goes beyond that

164
00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:52,000
Speaker 3: primary care system. When we do that, we're seeing patients

165
00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,600
Speaker 3: and doctors a hell of a lot happier, with.

166
00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:59,520
Speaker 1: The results interesting, and the expenses aren't out of hand.

167
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,720
Speaker 3: Well, see the reason the expenses get out of hand

168
00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:04,559
Speaker 3: when you do it on your own, like you've done

169
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,160
Speaker 3: in the past, Joe, I know, is you're paying an

170
00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,280
Speaker 3: insured product up above, and then you're also paying for

171
00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,880
Speaker 3: this concierge medicine. So you're kind of double paying for

172
00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:15,280
Speaker 3: what you're getting. But when we can do this at

173
00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,240
Speaker 3: the employer level, we don't. We can set up the

174
00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:22,040
Speaker 3: insurance such that it doesn't even kick in until something

175
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,000
Speaker 3: goes beyond what your concierge doctor can do. So no,

176
00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:28,320
Speaker 3: we see this reducing prices anywhere from eighteen to forty

177
00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,920
Speaker 3: percent when we do it saying here's a better statistic

178
00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,040
Speaker 3: you'll get you you'll like you guys, your typical doctor

179
00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:36,880
Speaker 3: in the system. If so, if you have one of

180
00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,640
Speaker 3: those big four logos on your card, that doctor is

181
00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:45,240
Speaker 3: typically responsible for twenty five hundred to five thousand patients

182
00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,000
Speaker 3: per year. That's what their primary care bailiwick is that

183
00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:50,280
Speaker 3: they would have to be, you know, to potentially see

184
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,720
Speaker 3: in a given year when we do direct primary care

185
00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:56,600
Speaker 3: concierge models. Those doctors are limited to six hundred patients

186
00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,760
Speaker 3: in a given year, and they end up making more

187
00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,200
Speaker 3: money because we're cutting out all of the bloated bureaucracy

188
00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:03,559
Speaker 3: that harms the patient.

189
00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:06,240
Speaker 1: So you've been saying for years you thought we were

190
00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,880
Speaker 1: a decade or whatever away from full government takeover of

191
00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:12,280
Speaker 1: our healthcare.

192
00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:13,920
Speaker 2: That was just the direction was going. You no longer

193
00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,800
Speaker 2: believe that now. I still believe that's the impetus.

194
00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,079
Speaker 3: I mean, remember, what I'm doing has grown from one

195
00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,720
Speaker 3: percent of the market to four percent. Until this grows

196
00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:27,200
Speaker 3: to fifteen or twenty percent, I think the overwhelming momentum

197
00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:31,480
Speaker 3: here is toward a single payer Medicare type system, probably

198
00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:32,720
Speaker 3: still by twenty thirty.

199
00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:33,560
Speaker 2: Like we've seen.

200
00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:37,200
Speaker 1: Craig Gotwalls, Craig the healthcare guru, attorney law benefit consultant

201
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,240
Speaker 1: with the Mahony Group, and Craig, we've both come across, Well,

202
00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,120
Speaker 1: I came across an article you've lived that private equity

203
00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,480
Speaker 1: is buying up lots and lots of the healthcare world.

204
00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,120
Speaker 1: What would be your answer to, Well, first of all,

205
00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:52,440
Speaker 1: what's happening? And secondly, what would be your answer to

206
00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,920
Speaker 1: somebody who would say well, that's the private that's the.

207
00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:57,920
Speaker 2: Market at work. That's the free market.

208
00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, and excuse me, pardon me that I

209
00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:05,440
Speaker 3: even used to believe that at one point as a

210
00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,640
Speaker 3: good free market loving libertarian. Here's the thing. Somewhere about

211
00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,960
Speaker 3: the late seventies into the eighties, the focus of American

212
00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,520
Speaker 3: business really changed dramatically. And this started, I think with

213
00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:22,040
Speaker 3: all of our outsourcing to China, where the number one

214
00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:26,600
Speaker 3: customer shifted to become the shareholder. Whereas if you looked

215
00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:30,000
Speaker 3: at American business in American productivity prior to say nineteen eighty,

216
00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,360
Speaker 3: the number one customer was the purchaser of the product.

217
00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,200
Speaker 3: And we've undergone this shift. And I actually don't think

218
00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,480
Speaker 3: this is a truly capitalistic free market shift. I think

219
00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:45,640
Speaker 3: it's a I think it's a symptom of government involvement

220
00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:50,080
Speaker 3: in the large corporations because what has happened now is

221
00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:53,440
Speaker 3: private equity buys up everything. And what we're seeing in

222
00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:58,000
Speaker 3: healthcare is private equity buying up absolutely every facet of

223
00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,079
Speaker 3: the healthcare chain. Remember, health care is the number one

224
00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,760
Speaker 3: employer in the United States, it's the number one lobby

225
00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,160
Speaker 3: in the United States, and it's roughly one fifth of

226
00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,920
Speaker 3: our economy. So private equity has come in and bought brokerages.

227
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:12,560
Speaker 3: I mean, heck, I used to work at the fifth

228
00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,640
Speaker 3: largest insurance brokerage in the United States. Private equity just

229
00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,120
Speaker 3: gobbled it up fifteen billion dollars. And what do they do.

230
00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,040
Speaker 3: They come in on a two to five year sales cycle.

231
00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,120
Speaker 3: They cut everything they can out of it, all the

232
00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,520
Speaker 3: extra services, all of the stuff that made it a

233
00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:34,200
Speaker 3: really good experience for the customer gets Pilford because the

234
00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:37,040
Speaker 3: whole focus is on a two to five year sales cycle,

235
00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,199
Speaker 3: where we're going to just wretch everything we can out

236
00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:41,800
Speaker 3: of this thing and then flip it and then buy

237
00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,040
Speaker 3: the next thing. We're not just seeing that with brokerages.

238
00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:46,360
Speaker 3: We're seeing that with insurance companies, and we're seeing that

239
00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,760
Speaker 3: with the large medical groups, where again, the number one

240
00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:54,000
Speaker 3: customer has become that disconnected person on Wall Street as

241
00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,360
Speaker 3: opposed to the person you're supposed to be serving with

242
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:57,280
Speaker 3: the good you produce.

243
00:12:58,000 --> 00:12:59,320
Speaker 1: Well, I think we've seen that in a lot of

244
00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:01,679
Speaker 1: different industry. Is that very thing you just described, I

245
00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:03,720
Speaker 1: don't know what you do about it, and you know,

246
00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:08,000
Speaker 1: a free market society, any thoughts.

247
00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's it's well, it's a tough quandary, right.

248
00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:14,520
Speaker 3: I actually just read and I'm trying to remember where

249
00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:16,040
Speaker 3: it was. I'll get the link to you when I

250
00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,600
Speaker 3: find it. I just read something that said, you know,

251
00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,679
Speaker 3: this is something that perhaps perhaps Milton Friedman had wrong,

252
00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:26,080
Speaker 3: because Milton Friedman was a big proponent for making the stockholder,

253
00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:30,240
Speaker 3: the shareholder the number one goal of the of American business,

254
00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,440
Speaker 3: and that it really is not the way this country

255
00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,280
Speaker 3: was founded, it's not the way we operated up until

256
00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:37,599
Speaker 3: the seventies. So there has to be some sort of

257
00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,760
Speaker 3: a rejuvenating impetus of pushing pushing that focus back on

258
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:45,280
Speaker 3: the customer, the person to whom you're serving, right.

259
00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,840
Speaker 1: I think it probably has something to do with the shifting,

260
00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,560
Speaker 1: some would say eroding morality of the country, in which

261
00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,880
Speaker 1: a company that was seen as abusing its customers would

262
00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:00,920
Speaker 1: be roundly criticized from both high and low instantly till

263
00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:03,679
Speaker 1: they mended their ways. You're making an unsafe product, you're

264
00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,960
Speaker 1: not having good medical results, that sort of thing. I

265
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,120
Speaker 1: just it's like we always say, it's tough to have

266
00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,800
Speaker 1: a government showing fiscal restraint for a people that don't

267
00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,360
Speaker 1: show fiscal restraint in their own lives, but we may

268
00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,440
Speaker 1: need to leave it there as we are out of time.

269
00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:24,360
Speaker 1: Craig Gottwalls, the healthcare guru, always fasting, Craig, how can

270
00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,240
Speaker 1: people reach you if they have follow up questions?

271
00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,120
Speaker 3: Gotwalls dot substack dot com is probably the easiest way

272
00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:31,960
Speaker 3: to get me, and that leaks up to all my

273
00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:32,600
Speaker 3: other stuff.

274
00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:33,160
Speaker 2: Cool.

275
00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:35,280
Speaker 1: Okay, if you didn't catch that, drop this an email.

276
00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:39,000
Speaker 1: We'll send you the link. Armstrong and Getty