More women die from heart issues each year than all cancers combined!

We say: "do you have chest pain" to women and to men, but commonly in women it could felt as pressure in the chest or really any symptom from the waist on up including tooth pain and overwhelming fatigue. These are signs of a serious heart issue.

That is what bothers Dr Tracy Stevens the most, that in men and women, symptoms may be different.

Women still to this day don't recognize heart attack and stroke as their number one health threat. We've gone from one out of three deaths every year, one out of two deaths every year, being in women, being due to heart attack and stroke, compared to 1 in 39 from breast cancer.

This fascinating show features Dr. Tracy Stevens and Dr. Anna Grodzinski who both specialize in Women's Cardiovascular Disease & Cardiology at Saint Luke’s.

This is season 20 episode 27 of America's Healthcare Advocate.

To learn more visit: https://www.saintlukeskc.org/locations/saint-lukes-cardiovascular-consultants

And if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-usAnd let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

I am pleased to offer our experts from JD Power Award Winning BlueKC (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City) to lay out their new, 2025 Medicare Supplement options and tell us more about why some companies are also withdrawing their Medicare Advantage plans in 2025.

Our Experts from BlueKC are: Barron Roberts, Manager of Small Group, Medicare and Individual Sales; Barb Bins, Broker Development and Engagement Manager, and Ryan Roth, Department Vice President of Sales.

Here we go into open enrollment for AEP and open enrollment for the individual plans in November for Obamacare, ACA and this team will tell us what we need to know. Small Group, Large Group is also discussed.

Even though the information presented in this episode is specific to the Kansas City Metro market, we will also run the episode nationally because the information presented can be used to inform and to compare offerings available in other areas.

To learn More, visit https://www.bluekc.com or call 1-800-867-9014

This is Season 20, Episode 28.

I'm Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate, and if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns

My guest Dr. Arden Andersen has experienced it himself and now his patients as well have life changing, life improving experiences to share.

With him, Dr. Emilio John suffered terribly for many years, and he also has experienced a return to a feeling of wellness.

To hear them tell their stories is both moving and exciting. But what are they talking about?

They work at a new facility in Lenexa Kansas called PainLab and they have brought together non-invasive state of the art tools that are bringing solutions for those needing neurological and mobility support. Hear is an excerpt from Dr. Andersen:

“And so we can tell just from that reading (a WAVi Brain Scan report from a 40 minute test given) whether or not a person has had a concussion, whether or not they've recovered from their concussion, as well as perhaps any other problem that may be associated with that brain, body interaction. Well, then, okay, that's nice. You can identify that. But now what are you going to do about it as far as getting it evaluated? Unfortunately, standard medicine is either looking at implanting electrodes in the brain, brain surgery of some other type or some other kind of drug, which has all kinds of side effects and may or may not work, but eventually doesn't work.

And so how do we actually regenerate the system? And so Neuro20 came on the scene. And that system is about stimulating what's called brain derived neurotrophic factor, which is a protein in the brain over time. But that is a substance in the brain that actually stimulates regeneration of brain cells and nerve cells. And it wasn't that long ago, 20 years ago for sure. We didn't even believe it could be done to regenerate nerve cells. Ten years ago, we didn't believe it was possible to regenerate brain cells. We free up brain cells. Nope. Now we know we can regenerate brain cells.”

Listen to this episode to hear about the latest on WAVi, Neuro20 and other new and revolutionary ways to give us humans help and rehab.

To learn more, click https://painlabkc.com/about/ or call 833-724-6522

And if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

How do you work ON your business, not IN your business if you're that small business owner?

My guest is an expert on how to do that and why you should. He is Chad Simpson, VP of Sales for G&A Partners. They are a PEO, Professional Employer Organization and a PEO is much different than simply outsourcing HR and payroll.

Here is how Chad explains it:

"It can get a little bit confusing because it's a very saturated marketplace when it comes to HR outsourcing. There are companies that give HR guidance, compliance, salary surveys, you name it.

When we came into the marketplace, we came in as a PEO (Professional Employer Organization) and we're seeking out the business owner that says, look, I probably can do this, but I don't want to do this, not and grow my business. You can't be that focused when you're doing payroll over here, OSHA training over there, and worker's comp...”.

The Heath of your Business, this episode is #2025 on Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate. Learn more/contact G&A Partners: https://www.gnapartners.com/ 713-784-1181

And if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

My guest for this episode is a true expert. His name is Sam Nigro, and he is a broker in Omaha, NE who specializes in individual and group health benefits. We're going to talk specifically about GigCare today and the individual market, how to navigate it and what you need to know if you are a contract worker, a “1099 Worker” who has a hard time finding affordable health coverage.

You are not alone.

We will explain the “Working Owner” model, and how it works.

This is Season 20 Episode 24

Learn more about our guest:

Sam Nigro, CLU, CLTC,RHU,REBC, Employee Benefit Consultant with Gallagher.

866-200-2513

Learn more about GigCare:

https://gigcare.net/

And if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

Our annual Labor Day Car Show show has a little bit of everything. Joining me from the Kansas City AFL-CIO is President Patrick A. “Duke” Dujakovich, and also from the AFL-CIO and from the organization Working Families’ Friend, VP Chris Jenkins.

The Labor Day Car Show https://www.kc-carshow.com is happens this Saturday at Azura Amphitheater in Bonnor, Springs, Ks plus, we’ll discuss jobs, college and apprentice programs.

About my guests:

Duke Dujakovich, was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Board of Directors on January 1, 2023 and has served on the head office board since 2020. He is the president of the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO, a position which he has held since 2010.

Mr. Dujakovich’s professional career began when he joined the Kansas City, Missouri Fire Department and became a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local #42 in 1987. He received many promotions in the Fire Department including driver in 1991, captain in 1995 and eventually battalion chief in 2001. Upon being promoted to battalion chief, he became a member of IAFF Local #3808 and was elected as secretary and treasurer of that local in 2002 and president in 2004. Mr. Dujakovich retired from the Department in 2016 with more than 30 years of service and remains a member of the IAFF.

Mr. Dujakovich holds a number of civic and philanthropic positions including board membership on the United Way of Greater Kansas City Board of Directors, Working Families’ Friend Board of Directors and Jackson County Employees’ Pension Board. He previously served as a trustee for the Kansas City, Missouri Deferred Compensation Retirement Plan, Kansas City, Missouri Employees Health Insurance Board and Kansas City Fire Fighters Pension Board.

He previously served as a member of the Community Advisory Council for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2015-2018.

Chris Jenkins, VP Working Families’ Friend https://wffriend.org Working Families’ Friend is a unique not-for-profit charity supported by the community that provides life-changing assistance to hard working, well-deserving men and women. Founded on in 2003 to fill a need in our community that was not being met: providing emergency assistance to working, or recently unemployed, individuals who found themselves in an unexpected one-time crisis. The working people in our community were an underserved population. Traditional social service programs that provide emergency assistance typically have at, or below, poverty level income requirements.

This is S20Ep23 of America’s Healthcare Advocate

If you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate, Visit https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

It’s shocking to learn that 1.2 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year, and our returning guest, RN Ron Hoyler, who is a Diabetes Educator at Saint Lukes Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. adds "we are recognizing more and more that preventative education can prevent or can stop some of these issues from happening before they even begin".

Folks, I was shocked to hear that 33% of the Medicare budget is for complications from diabetes!

Ep2022

More about Ron: Ron Hoyler RN, MSN, MBA-HCA, CDCES Diabetes Educator for St. Luke's hospital

If you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate. Visit https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

With over 28 years caring for employees, over 1200 businesses and over 500,000 employees including public, private, white collar and blue collar, LEAPCare is something employers can make available to their employees.

Join me as I speak with Melvin Swafford, VP of LEAPCare and Regional Director Ryan Lilly, LEAP Care for this compelling and compassionate story of caring that you could also bring to your employees.

AHA S20 Ep21

For more information:

https://leapcare.org 423-715-0693

If you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate

Visit https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.