Robbi Davis of the Robbi Davis Agency
Listen to the 10/20/17 podcast to find out:
- Discuss open enrollment
- Differences between Medicaid and Medicare
- Various insurance options and the future of health care
Robbi Davis of the Robbi Davis Agency, Inc., will discuss Obamacare and the Executive Order that President Trump signed last week and how it will effect individual and group insurance in Arkansas. She will also talk about Medicare supplements/drug plans/Advantage plans. Open enrollment for Medicare is 10/15-12/7 and for individual plans 11/1-12/15…shorted to 45 days from 3 months in 2016.
Robbi DeWeese Davis grew up in Pine Bluff and graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1981. After graduating from the University of Central Arkansas in 1985 with a BBA in Marketing Communications, she joined American HMO, Arkansas’ First Health Maintenance Organization in June 1985. In February 1987, Robbi was recruited by Health Advantage, which is now a subsidiary of Arkansas BCBS. She was awarded for top sales 5 consecutive years while serving as an Account Executive at Health Advantage.
In September 1992, Robbi was recruited by Prudential where she gained valuable training and was recognized on a national level for top sales production.
In 1993, Robbi sold more groups than any agent in the nation for Prudential and was honored at a special ceremony at the Corporate Headquarters in Newark, New Jersey.
In June 1996, Robbi decided that she would be able to serve her customers best if she was an independent agent and opened The Robbi Davis Agency, Inc in the dining room of her home when she was 4 months pregnant with her first child. After 11 months, Robbi had sold enough business to justify adding an assistant and she opened up her first two room office on Innwood Circle in West Little Rock.
The Robbi Davis Agency, Inc. just celebrated its 21st anniversary, has 9 full time employees and just finished adding additional office space to a new office that they moved to in July 2016. The new office is located at 1909 Hinson Loop Road in west Little Rock. The agency is one of the few agencies that is still 100% locally owned and operated and specializes in employee benefits with a focus on group health insurance. The agency also has an individual health insurance department and a Medicare department.
Robbi attributes her success to making the buying decision simple for the consumer and then providing unprecedented service after the sale.
Robbi was instrumental in forming the Chamber Alliance Program which is a Health Insurance Purchasing Group. The CAP is a partnership between the NLR Chamber of Commerce and QualChoice.
Robbi is married to Scott Davis who joined the agency full time in 2014 as CFO and Individual Product Manager. They have been married for 25 years and have two children, Maggie, who is a junior at Brigham Young University and Parker, who is a senior at LR Central High School.
Robbi and her family are active members at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church where they served as Missionary members in 1991. They have also been active in raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Since 2010, their family team, Parker’s Pack, raised $100,000 for JDRF to help fund the organization in their effort to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.
Up In Your Business is a Radio Show by FlagandBanner.com
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EPISODE 58
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:03.2] TB: Welcome to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. Be sure to stay tuned till the end of the show to hear how you can get a copy of this program and other helpful documents.
Now, it's time for Kerry McCoy to get all up in your business.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:17.6] KM: Thank you, Tim. Like Tim said, I’m Kerry McCoy and it’s time for me to get up in your business.
Today’s show is very relevant and important to us all. We’re going to talk healthcare in America with my guest, the expert, Robbi Davis, founder and owner of The Robbi Davis Agency. A locally owned insurance company specializing in employee benefits with the focus on group health insurance.
We hope through our conversation and storytelling you will learn something, want to get involved or be inspired to take action in your own life.
For me, taking action began over 40 years ago when I founded Arkansas Flag & Banner. During the last four decades, Flag & Banner has grown from door-to-door sales, to telemarketing, to mail order and catalog sales, and now relies heavily on the internet. Each change in sale strategy required a change in company thinking and procedures. My confidence, leadership knowledge and my company grew. My initial $400 investment not produces nearly 4 million in annual sales.
Each week on this show you’ll hear candid conversations between me and my guest about real-world experiences on a variety of businesses and topics that I hope you’ll find interesting. Starting and running a business or organization is like so many things. It takes persistence, perseverance and patience. No one, and I mean no one has a straight path to success.
I worked part-time jobs for nine years before Arkansas Flag & Banner grew enough to support just me. Today, we have 10 departments and 23 coworkers. Thus, reminding us all, small businesses are the fuel of our country’s economic engine and empower people’s lives.
Before we start, I want to introduce you to the people at the table. We have my technician, Tim, who’ll be running the board and taking your calls. Say, Hello, Tim.
[0:02:03.7] TB: Hello, Tim.
[0:02:04.6] KM: My guest today is Ms. Robbi Davis, founder of The Robbi Davis Agency. After graduating from the University of Central Arkansas in 1985 with a BBA in marketing communications, she took a job with Arkansas’s first HMO, American Health Maintenance Organization. I didn’t know that’s what HMO stood for.
It only took two years in the insurance business before Robbi was noticed and recruited by Health Advantage Insurance Company, where as their account executive, she became the top seller for five years in a row. Noticed again for her insurance understanding and work ethic, Robbi was recruited by Prudential Health Insurance company, where she says, “I learned the most.”
Not only did she learn the most, she sold the most. At the corporate headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, Robbi was honored and nationally recognized for selling more group policies than any other Prudential agent in the nation.
In 1996, Robbi made a bold decision, thinking her clients would be better served if she was an independent agent. She left the security of a big company and from her kitchen table, pregnant with her first child, she founded The Robbi Davis Agency.
Now, over 20 years later, the agency has grown to nine employees and recently moved to a bigger location on Hinson Loop in West Little Rock, Arkansas. Robbi is proud to be one of the few agencies in greater Little Rock area that is still 100% locally owned and operated.
The Robbi Davis Agency specializes in employee benefits with a focus on group health insurance. That is exactly how she and I came to me.
Welcome to the table, the ambitious, well-trained and easy to understand insurance agent and owner, Robbi Davis.
[0:03:49.0] RD: Thank you very much. Hello.
[0:03:51.1] KM: Hello. We have a lot to talk about.
[0:03:54.2] RD: Yes, ma’am.
[0:03:55.1] KM: We have the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, and how the recent executive order President Trump signed will affect individuals and groups insurance in Arkansas. Medicare supplements and open enrollment, drug plans, advantage plans, which I’m not sure what they are. You’re going to explain all of these to us. One thing I love about you is that you really talk down into layman terms. I can really understand insurance when I talk to you.
But before we do all of that, give us a little background about you. You went to school for marketing. Got a degree in marketing, but took a job right out of college selling insurance. Why?
[0:04:30.8] RD: Because that was the first job that I could get that paid me enough not to have to move back to my hometown.
[0:04:38.0] KM: Which is where?
[0:04:38.1] RD: Pine Bluff.
[0:04:38.7] KM: Arkansas?
[0:04:39.2] RD: Arkansas. Great place, but I wanted to be on my own. After being on my own four years at UCA, I didn’t want to go back home. That paid me enough. I had six hours’ worth of training on what HMO was. It was brand new to Arkansas or the nation, probably. I remember vividly they gave me a telephone, a phonebook, a legal pad, a pen and said, “Make 50 calls a day until you get an appointment.”
[0:05:02.6] KM: That’s the way we did it back then.
[0:05:04.3] RD: Yeah.
[0:05:04.3] KM: Did they give you a script?
[0:05:05.6] RD: No. They gave me that six hours’ worth of training on what an HMO was. My first appointment, I just went down there and rattled, but anyway, it was a good way to get started. Just get thrown in.
[0:05:16.6] KM: Why do you think you were successful just blindly calling people?
[0:05:19.7] RD: One thing was I was the youngest on that sales force. Everybody else was older and seasoned and everything, and I think I thought, “Okay. I’ve got something to prove here.” I just worked hard. Have always worked hard.
[0:05:32.0] KM: Boy, I’ll say, top seller, recognized in the nation. Everywhere you’ve been, you worked hard.
[0:05:38.2] RD: Yes.
[0:05:39.4] KM: People think there are some secret to success, and you’re like, “There is. Work hard.”
[0:05:43.0] RD: That’s exactly right. There’s not a lot of luck involved. It’s working hard.
[0:05:47.6] KM: You made phone calls. Were you scared to death to sit there and make phone calls?
[0:05:50.5] RD: I was, and then my very first appointment, I will never forget it. They said, “Oh, yeah! We’re [inaudible 0:05:54.8]. Can you be down here today at 2:00?” I didn’t have any idea what I was going to say, that I figured it out after I got there. Of course, I knew more about it than they did.
[0:06:05.3] KM: I think that’s a great advice. Even though you don’t think you know a lot about a subject, because you’re new at the job, like if you’re selling flags. When people come to work at my flag company, I say, “Even though you don’t know a whole lot about flags, you know more than most people do.”
[0:06:18.7] RD: Absolutely. That’s right. That’s what you have to remember. I was raised by a single mother and she raised me to be strong and independent.
[0:06:26.9] KM: Try new things.
[0:06:28.0] RD: Mm-hmm.
[0:06:30.6] KM: Was there a particular incident that happened that made you decide that you wanted to start your own company?
[0:06:37.7] RD: Yes. When I worked for Health Advantage or Prudential, and they were both great places, I could only sell that product, because I was a captive agent. Health Advantage wasn’t the most compatible with what you needed or the most competitive, and I was loss to sale. Finally, I got enough nerve to go out and try my own, and it worked real well. Of course, I have been blessed with a good husband, and he had a job at Nationwide as a master claims adjuster at the time. It wasn’t like we’re going to a single income, but it was a huge change.
I felt real good at four months pregnant and everything, and I thought, “Well, this is as a good time as any to make this happen.” It was interesting. People took pity on me as a pregnant lady out trying to sell insurance. I remember 21 years ago, we were those dresses and the pumps and the [inaudible 0:07:30.4]. You got dressed up. Ladies did.
Anyway I knew I had — About five months to get it out and get it done before she got here. Anyway, it worked out real well, but I had — My very first commission check was $56. I was getting new tires put on my car. Anyway, I said, “Do you all need health insurance?” It was three people. I’ll never forget that either, it’s $56.
[0:07:55.7] KM: Did you sell the first car you went on?
[0:07:58.4] RD: Yes.
[0:07:59.3] KM: Oh, you did! That did great things for your confidence.
[0:08:00.8] RD: Yes, it did. Like I said, when a lady shows up that’s pregnant, people react a little differently. I didn’t really have that plan, but it worked out quite well.
[0:08:09.7] KM: And a young lady, or a young man, a young person. I think people are — I know I am and I didn’t realize this when I was young. Not that I’m older, when I see a young person trying hard, I am inspired by them and I want to help them and then I want to do what I can to help them, because I’m impressed with their work ethic.
[0:08:30.9] RD: Yeah, absolutely. My son is a senior at Little Rock Central, and he is just now getting some confidence that maybe what he wants to do for a living he can actually do. He’s into art and film and animation and all that. He’s excited about his future and it gives me new energy.
[0:08:46.5] KM: That’s sweet. I think that young people starting off need to realize that just trying will get you there.
[0:08:56.0] RD: That’s right.
[0:08:56.5] KM: It’s all that really is. You don’t have to be the best. You don’t have to be the smartest. You just have to keep trying an you will get somewhere that you didn’t know you were going to be.
[0:09:03.8] RD: Absolutely. We talk about that all the time at the office. I have an incredible team of people that have the same work ethic that I do and that we do. There’s no real science to it. It’s doing what you say, being there to answer the phone, responding in a timely manner. That’s it.
[0:09:20.0] KM: Well, somebody write that down. Say that one more time. Doing what you say.
[0:09:24.0] RD: Doing what you say. Being there to answer the phone when they call, and then doing it all in a timely manner. When a new client calls me, I’d take down the information and we get back with them within 24 or 48 hours. We don’t wait a week.
[0:09:37.9] KM: You know what drives me crazy is when I call a real estate agent who has a signup and her phone is full.
[0:09:42.3] RD: Yeah.
[0:09:43.8] KM: Just like, “What?”
[0:09:45.1] RD: We say a receptionist to be there to answer the door and the phone. You don’t get a voicemail.
[0:09:50.7] KM: That’s old school.
[0:09:50.7] RD: Yeah. Of course, that is kind of old school, but it works.
[0:09:55.3] KM: Okay. You’re one of the few insurance agents that I know that was not afraid of Obamacare when it came out. Why were you not threatened?
[0:10:02.7] RD: I just decided that this is all I know. Instead of trying to fight it, let’s accept it. Let’s embrace it. Let’s see what we can do with it and go with the flow, and it’s worked out very well. We’ve got a whole individual department now that has done incredible over four years, but now that’s where the most heartburn is right now, in that department. Of course, the stress goes throughout the agency, because, see, open enrollment is going to start here very soon. 11-1 to 12-15 is open enrollment —
[0:10:30.7] KM: For Obamacare.
[0:10:31.5] RD: For Obamacare for individuals under age 65. We don’t’ have the rights. We don’t have the final products, and we’re talking about, “When is that? A week away? Two weeks away maybe?”
Last year, in years past, it’s always been a 90-day open enrollment. Now, it’s been reduced to 45 days.
[0:10:52.5] KM: You can’t just enroll anytime you want to?
[0:10:53.7] RD: No. You have to be losing other coverage to enroll.
[0:10:56.1] KM: Oh my gosh! I did not know that. All right, we’re going to take a break. When we come back, Robbi Davis will help us untangle the healthcare issues facing Americans today. We’ll talk about the future of Obamacare, President Trumps’ commitment to unraveling this Affordable Care Act, Medicare supplements, drug plans, open enrollment, advantage plans.
[0:11:13.4] TB: You’re listening to Up In Your Business with Kerry McCoy. If you missed any part of this show, a podcast will be made available next week at flagandbanner.com’s website. If you prefer to listen on iTunes, YouTube or Blog Talk, you’ll find those links there as well. Lots of listening options.
We’ll be right back.
[0:11:43.9] KM: You’re listening to Up In Your Business with me, Kerry McCoy. I’m speaking today with Robbi Davis, owner and founder of the health insurance called The Robbi Davis Agency in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Okay, Robbi, before the break you were about to tell us about open enrollment. So we want to talk about that. In an effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, President Trump signed an executive order that will knowingly push low income Americans into no insurance or into junk insurance plans. Should we talk about — We’ve got so much. Should we talk about that part right now or do you want to talk about this open enrollment? Let’s go ahead and —
[0:12:17.1] RD: I can kind of talk about one and then it’ll flow into the other. Okay. Once a year we have open enrollment for anybody that’s uninsured and not enrolled anywhere. They can go online or come to our office or whatever and enroll no matter what their preexisting conditions are. You can come and enroll in a plan for January 1st.
[0:12:36.5] KM: That could be a plan for Affordable Care Act.
[0:12:39.2] RD: Yeah. You can either pay your own way or you if you’re eligible for a premium subsidy, then you would get a subsidy.
[0:12:45.4] KM: That’s what Trump just got rid of was the subsidy.
[0:12:47.8] RD: Well, there’s two subsidies. There’s a premium subsidy to help with the cost of the insurance, and then there is a call-sharing reduction subsidy. That is, let’s say, that the plan has a $2,500 deductible for example, depending on your income, if you’re up to 250% of the poverty level, those people in the past have gotten cost-sharing reduction subsidies that were — Let’s say that Blue Cross Blue Shield is the insurance carrier, and they have an insurance plan that’s $2,500 deductible.
If you’re low income, maybe your deductible was reduced to $200. Then the government was paying Blue Cross Blue Shield for that difference in the 200 and the 2,500. Me, as a low income person, let’s say, only have a $200 deductible. Maybe instead of having a $2,500 copay, I have a $5 copay. It’s those subsidies that the executive order took away.
[0:13:40.5] KM: Subsidies means the money that the government is going to pay the health insurance to bridge the gap between your deductible, your $200 deductible and what the insurance company would have normally charged you.
[0:13:54.4] RD: Right. Let’s say you have a premium, and so those subsidies —
[0:13:57.1] KM: That’s the cost of the insurance.
[0:13:58.4] RD: Yeah. Cost of the insurance that you pay monthly. Depending on your income and your age and your household income, number on your tax return, you can get a premium subsidy. Those are still in place.
[0:14:09.9] KM: Those go to who?
[0:14:11.2] RD: That goes to the insurance.
[0:14:12.5] KM: That one goes to the insurance to help make up for the fact that you can’t pay enough to get insurance.
[0:14:16.5] RD: That’s right. Let’s say that my premium is $500, but I’m low income, so maybe the government pays 300 of that.
[0:14:23.7] KM: And I only have to pay 200.
[0:14:24.1] RD: We have to pay for 200 of that. That’s still in place, but is the deductible and co-insurance help that the people are going to lose if something didn’t change.
[0:14:33.0] KM: Everybody I talk to is confused about that, per usual, because it’s confusing.
[0:14:38.2] RD: Well, and the national news said premium subsidies.
[0:14:41.6] KM: That’s why they’re confusing. Everybody that I told them you were coming on the show. They said, “Ask her if my premiums, my cost of — Health insurance is going to go up.” And it’s not.
[0:14:51.8] RD: Well, it is, because — Okay. Let’s say any carrier. We only have three carriers on the Arkansas market; Blue Cross Blue Shield, QualChoice and Ambetter. Those are the three carriers that you can get if you live in Arkansas and want an individual plan.
Let’s say that I purchase Blue Cross. Well, Blue Cross is going to charge one premium for a $2,500 deductible and it’s going to charge a higher premium for $200 deductible, because there is going to be more on the line for plain.
[0:15:19.7] KM: Because they’re trying to make money.
[0:15:21.3] RD: They’re trying to make money. When those subsidies are taken away from the deductible and copays, that is going to raise the rate, because — They’re going up 21%.
[0:15:30.7] KM: You said that your premium will not — Subsidy will still be there, but you’re going to lose the subsidy that was paid to the insurance companies that covers your deductible.
[0:15:40.6] RD: Right. Those are going away, but of course premiums were going to go up January 1 anyway before that was taken away.
[0:15:47.6] KM: You’re saying you think premiums are going to go up because they’re no longer doing the deductible subsidy.
[0:15:51.8] RD: That’s right. They were going to go up anyway, but they’re going to go up more so if those are not put back in.
[0:15:57.3] KM: I also read that they’re going to move us into junk insurance plans, which is what we had prior to Obamacare. We had junk insurance plans. You could get in there and get yourself some sort of insurance, but when you try to make a claim, they had every kind of loophole and it never was what you thought it was, and they were literally caught — It’s like junk bonds. They were called junk insurance plans.
[0:16:18.9] RD: Right. Of course, that’s what we’re going to be looking at if the Affordable Care Act plans fall apart. What that is is, say, a young fellow, a young male. He doesn’t maternity care. Maybe he doesn’t need the mental health care. He doesn’t need all of the bells and whistles that are under the Obamacare plans, because I’m paying for maternity. I’m too old to have a child. I’m paying for mental health. I’m paying for —
[0:16:41.0] KM: Under the Obamacare?
[0:16:41.8] RD: Under the Obamacare. There are all these things in there that we may not need that we’re paying for and that keeps the right subs. What they’re trying to do is say, “You can kind of pick and choose like a supplement.” You’d go through and check, “Yes, I do want mental health. Yes, I do want office visits, flu shots, broken bones can be covered at the emergency room, that ER copay and that type of thing.” They’d be tailored made.
The problem with that is that the people that know that they’re going to need the mental health coverage, they know they’re active in sports, they might have an ER visit. They’re going to purchase that and then the claims are going to be high. Insurance is risk management, and everybody has to be in the pool. That’s one reason Obamacare hasn’t worked, is because the penalties are not high enough for everybody to join. They said, “Hey, the penalty is less expensive than the premium. I’ll just go uninsured, thank you very much, because I can’t afford the premium.” We’ve got all the young healthy still uninsured.
[0:17:39.1] KM: Yes. The young people are not insured, because it’s not mandated for everyone.
[0:17:43.5] RD: Well, it is.
[0:17:45.1] KM: Like you said, the penalty is so small. It doesn’t really make it mandated.
[0:17:48.5] RD: Yes. Not as painful as the premium.
[0:17:52.4] KM: Now, your pool of — Which is always true, even before Obamacare came around, we tried to offer health insurance to people at Arkansas Flag & Banner, and the healthy people never wanted it and the sick people were like, “I want it.”
[0:18:06.7] RD: Then you got a huge increase, and then the healthier fell off again, and then you just have a nucleus of claims and then the premiums are unaffordable.
[0:18:13.5] KM: What’s the answer?
[0:18:14.0] RD: It’s just so frustrating.
[0:18:15.7] KM: What’s the answer?
[0:18:16.1] RD: We need to come out with a plan that everybody can afford, everybody can join. Yeah, maybe have a little bit of choosing, you don’t need a mental health right, or you don’t need the maternity, and we all know men don’t need that, ladies of certain ages.
You want to know the real truth of what I think, is the problem is the pharmaceutical. I have a son that’s a type 1 diabetic and I have an HSA plan, it has a $4,000 deductible. His insulin at the beginning of the year, I went to pick up a 60-day supply of his life-sustaining insulin. We can’t afford to be without it. It was $1,610 for a 60-day supply.
I turned to my pharmacist and said, “How much do you make off of this?” He said, “$36.” It turns out — I did a lot of research on that. That turns out, it’s not the insurance company making the money on pharmaceutical, it’s not the pharmacist. It is a middleman called a pharmacy benefit manager between the pharmaceutical company and the insurance company. They had no regulations over them. They have their paid lobbyist, and that is the one piece that no one has ever dealt with in Washington.
[0:19:32.3] KM: It’s because of the lobbyist.
[0:19:33.5] RD: Mm-hmm.
[0:19:34.0] KM: What are they called?
[0:19:34.5] RD: Pharmacy benefit managers.
[0:19:37.4] KM: They’re the lobbyist in Washington.
[0:19:38.4] RD: Yes.
[0:19:38.5] KM: So no one talks about. That’s the problem with healthcare?
[0:19:40.7] RD: That’s exactly right. They executive director of the Arkansas Pharmacy Association, he would love — He would be a great guest for you some time and y’all could talk about that for an hour.
[0:19:49.4] KM: Who is it?
[0:19:51.4] RD: His name is Scott Pace.
[0:19:53.3] KM: Okay.
[0:19:53.3] RD: Yeah. I’ll get you his contact information. Think about that, $1,610 for a drug that a child has to have.
[0:20:03.2] KM: Life-saving.
[0:20:03.7] RD: Life-saving. We can’t go without it. Thank goodness I had a way to get the $1,610, but how about if I didn’t?
[0:20:11.5] KM: What happened?
[0:20:13.4] RD: I guess we just go to the emergency room three times a week.
[0:20:16.8] KM: Which is the most expensive thing that you can do to the government, right? Isn’t that why we’re trying to move to Obamacare? Granted, sure, everybody wants all Americans to be covered, but politicians really don’t care that much about it. It’s really that the emergency room is the most expensive way to get health care from the government. So they’re trying to move us out of that business model.
[0:20:42.8] RD: Right. Back to your primary care doctor. That’s right. Of course, when the CSRs go away.
[0:20:49.4] KM: What’s CSR?
[0:20:49.3] RD: That’s the cost-sharing reduction, so the help with the deductible and the copays and all that.
[0:20:53.9] KM: Oh, that we talked about earlier.
[0:20:54.7] RD: As premium goes up, it’s going to be the hospitals in the rural areas around the state that lose. Right now, people have insurance. They’re going in to the doctor. They’re going in to the hospital to get what they need, very rarely to the ER. We’re going to go full circle right back to where we were; uninsured people using the ER as their primary care doctor.
[0:21:15.7] KM: Surely, our politicians know that.
[0:21:18.6] RD: Well, you would think.
[0:21:21.2] KM: What is the motivating factor? Is it the lobbyist in Washington?
[0:21:23.6] RD: Through my research with the pharmacy benefit managers, that’s exactly what it is. There’s a group of people, there’s no regulation over them. Obviously, they’ve gotten a lobbyist to payoff whoever they need to payoff. Pharmaceuticals are one thing that has not been addressed in this whole ballgame as of now.
Then think about the kids that are on Medicaid and our kids, for example. They have type 1 diabetics also. So then it’s our state dollars paying $1,600 a box for insulin. See, it’s just a tangled web.
Like I said, January 1, if more people go uninsured, if they lose their cost-sharing reductions, their premiums go up, their deductibles go up. They’re just going to choose uninsured.
[0:22:12.7] KM: If you go uninsured, it came out today, you were just showing me.
[0:22:17.0] RD: Yes, that in 2018 — There’s been a question on our tax returns for four years now. Do you have health insurance? Then last year we had to turn in a document, a 1095b, showing that we did have health insurance. You have to prove it.
Now, they’re saying that they are not going to process your tax return until you check that box. Do you have it your now? I guess maybe in the past, we’re letting them go through without them. Trump signed an executive order yesterday that said that you have to check yes or no I have health insurance.
[0:22:50.7] KM: If you say, “No. I don’t have health insurance.”
[0:22:52.5] RD: Yeah. Then you’ll be penalized, and the penalty is 2.5% of your wages, maximum $2,100 a year. For someone that makes a lot of money the most, their penalty would be $2,100. Let’s say I’m making 20,000 a year, so I’ll pay a penalty of 2.5% and they’ll take that out of my federal tax return if I get one. They won’t send you a bill for it. They’ll just take it out of your federal tax return.
[0:23:20.8] KM: If you have a child like you were just talking about and you can’t afford his insulin because you don’t make enough and you can’t afford health insurance because it’s too expensive also. What you could do — Oh, you’re about to say something.
[0:23:38.0] RD: Well, I’m just saying we have people come in the office, adults that have type 1 diabetes that just can’t get their insulin.
[0:23:43.8] KM: What you can do, because this happened to one of my employees, he came to me and worked for me for 20 years, and he came to me and he’s got diabetes and he said, “My wife is probably going to lose her job.” She works at a hospital and they have great insurance. She said, “I don’t make enough to buy insurance. So I’m going to have to maybe quit my job so that I can be low income so that I can get my health needs met.
[0:24:14.0] RD: It’s right. She’s still working though, right?
[0:24:15.8] KM: She ended up not losing her job. He ended up staying with me. I thought now we’re talking about throwing people on to unemployment. What kind of a weird way to get — That’s a very odd, expensive thing to do to the government.
[0:24:31.2] RD: It incents people not to work.
[0:24:33.2] KM: You wonder a lot of times why are there so many people unemployed? Maybe they have to be, because they have health problems, and the job they might get might not be enough to afford expensive healthcare, so they’re like, “I have to stay below the poverty line so that I can get benefits from my government and for my children and myself.”
[0:24:51.7] RD: That’s right. Now, in 2018, in order to get the Arkansas Works Program where 100% of your premiums paid, a family of two cannot make more than $16,240. They would get free. The premium would be paid by DHS and then they wouldn’t have copays at the pharmacy or anything, but that would mean a single person in a $12,080, or two people, 16,240.
[0:25:19.2] KM: They wouldn’t get copays? Still, they wouldn’t get their insulin paid?
[0:25:22.1] RD: No, they would, because they wouldn’t have any copays if they are that far down on the poverty. My gosh!
[0:25:28.8] KM: It throws more people back into poverty. Anybody who’s got a health problem and can afford and makes under $50,000 a year and has health issues is going to have to go to make less than $16,000 so that they can be below poverty and they can get government subsidies.
[0:25:44.3] RD: You can get a subsidy all the way up to $48,000. If you had a single person, they can get a subsidy all the way up to 48,000 if their employer or their spouse’s employer does not offer a plan.
[0:25:57.4] KM: Oh, that’s good to know.
[0:25:57.7] RD: To be honest with you, the younger you are and the closer you are to that 48,000, the less subsidy. The people getting the big subsidies are those 55 to 65 and that are in about the $30,000 range.
[0:26:16.8] KM: All right. This is a great place to take a really quick break and get my thoughts together, because we are all over the board. We want to talk about opening enrollment. We want to talk about repeal and replace. We did talk a little bit about being mandated. When we come back, we’ll continue our conversation with Robbi Davis, the untangling of the healthcare issues or Medicare supplements, early enrollment, advantage plans, which I don’t know what those are, and drug plans.
[0:26:42.0] TB: You’re listening to Up In Your Business with Kerry McCoy. If you missed any part of this podcast, a podcast will be made available next week at flagandbanner.com’s website. If you prefer to listen on iTunes, YouTube or Blog Talk, you’ll find those links there as well. Lots of listening options.
We’ll be right back after the break.
[0:27:13.4] KM: You’re listening to Up In Your Business with me, Kerry McCoy. I’m speaking today with Robbi Davis, owner and founder of the health insurance company called The Robbi Davis Agency in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the break, Robbi said she wanted to talk about — What did you say? Medicare open enrollment?
[0:27:27.8] RD: Yes. Medicare open enrollment comes around once a year and it is from October the 15th through December the 7th. During that time, someone that’s already on Medicare and a drug plan, and I’ll go into all that in just a second, they can change their drug plan, or if they’re on an advantage plan, they can change from one advantage plan to the other. Here’s how this works. Someone turns 65, they are automatically going to get part A, which has zero premium that pays about 80% of hospitalization, because of all of the times they’ve worked and paid in social security. Part A, there’s no premium attached.
Part B cost the average person today $134 in premium, and that is paid to social security administration for part B. That covers about 80% of physician and physician services. Then, we sell a supplement and a drug plan so the person has what they need.
Today, if someone is health and not on many prescriptions when they turn 65, we can get them in a supplement and a drug plan and their part B for under $300. Some of those people are paying $800, $900 right now.
[0:28:43.7] KM: You’re talking about Medicare or Medicaid?
[0:28:46.5] RD: Medicare.
[0:28:47.2] KM: Tell us what’s the different between Medicare and Medicaid.
[0:28:49.0] RD: Yeah, Medicare is insurance provided by the government to a degree for people that are 65 and older or disabled after 24 months under age 65.
[0:29:02.1] KM: And Medicaid.
[0:29:02.3] RD: Medicaid is for low income.
[0:29:06.4] KM: I didn’t think we had to pay anything once you got to be 65.
[0:29:08.9] RD: Yes. Like I said, part A is no premium, but part B depends on your income once again. The average person pays — If you and your spouse make $171,000 or less, then your part B premium, as we sit here today in 2017, is 134. That will go up for 2018 most likely. We don’t have those numbers yet.
[0:29:30.0] KM: Not everybody gets Medicare for free.
[0:29:33.1] RD: No.
[0:29:33.6] KM: I didn’t know that.
[0:29:35.6] RD: You had to be very low income. Let’s say when you and I visit in the future when you turn 65. You’re going to have you’re A, you’re going to get your B, and we’ll talk about what the premium is going to be for that. Your own individual plan, so you’ll have to go on Medicare. It’s not like you’re at a group and can continue working. It’s going to be less expensive, so that’s good. Then we’ll talk about a supplement. There’s supplement F, there’s supplement G, there are all these different ones, but no matter what the carrier, the supplements are the same, because they are defined by the government.
We sell a lot of the plan G, because it almost gives you 100% coverage. There’s $183 one time a year at the doctor. If you had A, B and G, you basically you would have 100% coverage except for your outpatient pharmacy. Someone that doesn’t take any medications or takes a few generics, we can put them in a drug card for less than $20 a month. Basically, you have 100% coverage, except for that one deductible at the doctor, which you may or may not meet once a year and a few drug card copays.
Now, an advantage plan. With an advantage plan, you still purchase B. You still got your $134 for your part B, or whatever you owe depending in your income, because higher income people pay up to $450 for their part B. You have your part B. A Medicare advantage plan has less of a premium, so that’s good, especially for people that can afford the premium. Right now, the premium for plan G is $134. It just happens to be about the same as the plan B premium.
The premiums are normally lower on an advantage plan, but the benefits are much different. You have copays when you to the doctor and when you go for surgery and when you go for hospitalization. That just seems like a lot of copays, but there is a maximum. The most you can be out in a year is $6,700. It’s little bitty premium on the front and then $6,700 if you have an issue.
The problem is after you’re in an advantage plan for a year and if you wanted to go back to a supplement, then you have to go through underwriting.
[0:31:44.9] KM: What does that mean?
[0:31:45.2] RD: That means you’d have to answer health questions to go back to a supplement.
[0:31:48.8] KM: They’re both offered by Medicare?
[0:31:51.0] RD: Both offered by a private insurance company. You get you’re A and your B from the government, and then you buy a supplement —
[0:31:58.2] KM: It’s by a private company.
[0:31:59.5] RD: Right or, and of course, you know, all have one.
[0:32:02.5] KM: You get your supplement for a private company, or you can get advantage from a private company.
[0:32:07.7] RD: That’s right.
[0:32:08.0] KM: Which is a high deductible.
[0:32:10.1] RD: No. Not necessarily. Just a lot of copays. Normally, they’re less expensive though as far as a premium. You can pay more on the front and nothing on the backend or less in the front and pay up to 6,700 on the backend as you incur claims during the year. Once you’re in an advantage plan, if you say, “I don’t like this.” During the first year, you can have buyer’s remorse and go back to the supplement. After 12 months, the only way you can go back to a supplement is if you go through an underwriting.
[0:32:37.9] KM: Start you all over and find out everything wrong with you. It’s kind of that way anyway. Every time you file a claim, they find out something wrong with you and they up your insurance anyway, so who really cares?
[0:32:48.8] RD: You feel like they do anyway.
[0:32:50.4] KM: They do.
[0:32:50.9] RD: It’s supposed to be pool rated, where you’re in with all other people, an individual pool. Like you said, we know rates are going up probably 14% for one carrier.
[0:33:02.1] KM: Let’s do open enrollment and explain to us about open enrollment.
[0:33:05.8] RD: Okay. Open enrollment for under age 65 is going to start November the 1st and it will go through December the 15th. Only 45 days. In the past we’ve had 90 days. This year we’re going to have 45 days. Less people are going to be able to call in and get taken care off, because the volume is going to be such.
Of course, people go on the marketplace on their own computer. Like I said, it’s just really going to be a problem, and the problem is right now is we don’t know the rates and benefits, because the government is switching things around every day.
[0:33:42.3] KM: You have a whole department at your place that’s for —
[0:33:45.7] RD: Mm-hmm. We have Shawn who works with our poverty people with the private option, which is now known as the Arkansas Works Program, and he’s really, really good at that. Then Scott works with the people that are either paying their own way, called off-exchange, or people through the federal marketplace.
[0:34:04.7] KM: How do you make any money doing that?
[0:34:05.7] RD: It costs no extra to use our services. We’re paid a small fee per contract by the carrier. To be honest, it’s a ministry. It’s not a lot of money involved in it, but we sure have helped a lot of people.
[0:34:20.8] KM: You create relationships with people that you don’t know where it’s going to grow from.
[0:34:24.9] RD: That’s exactly right.
[0:34:27.5] KM: Do you think a lot of people, insurance agents, were afraid of Obamacare in the beginning thinking that it was going to hurt their business?
[0:34:34.1] RD: When Obamacare was first passed, everybody thought that everybody was going to leave the group insurance and they were all going to go to the marketplace and it was going to be so great and wonderful and more affordable. That’s what we were told, and it just didn’t turn out that way. Now, they’re all going back to group insurance.
[0:34:51.1] KM: Why do you think it didn’t turn out that way?
[0:34:53.0] RD: Because I think that everybody didn’t sign up like they were supposed to for one thing. Only the sick people or older people signed up. That was one of the first problems. Then we still have like the pharmaceutical industry that hadn’t been addressed at all.
[0:35:08.5] KM: Now, our president has signed an executive order to cut supplements to these insurance companies so that now maybe even the Obamacare is going to have junk insurance.
[0:35:21.1] RD: Yeah, because I’ll tell you, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is just — They’re not making the money people think they’re making. Now, if that gets cut, sooner or later nobody is going to want to play in the individual market. For 2019, we may have no insurance carriers in the individual market.
[0:35:39.2] KM: Why do you only have three per state?
[0:35:40.8] RD: Because they just can’t make money here. There are some states that only have one.
[0:35:45.9] KM: They’re not regulated? They’re just not regulated?
[0:35:48.7] RD: They are. They are regulated and they have to their rates approved by the insurance commissioner and all that, but if you can’t make any money, you’re just not going to go there. Of course, we’re a rural state, lots of poverty in the state. It’s just hard to make money here.
[0:36:03.0] KM: We could have as many as — Our state is not regulating how many insurance companies we have, underwriters we have.
[0:36:09.9] RD: No. They just won’t come here.
[0:36:13.7] KM: We should all write Blue Cross Blue Shield a thank you letter, because they do get a bad rep.
[0:36:17.9] RD: They do. Like I said, they cannot make money. Like the CSRs, if that doesn’t work out and they can’t get the rates right and all that, they’re going to lose millions of dollars and that’s just one thing, and that is subsidies to help lower your copays and lower your deductibles are what they’re talking about taking away.
[0:36:35.5] KM: I think everybody should come and talk to you.
[0:36:39.3] RD: Well, we certainly would love that or email us anyway.
[0:36:43.1] KM: I’m not stupid. Insurance language and what’s going on is so convoluted and you are so informed. You get up every morning, you watch the news, you have an anxiety attack and then you go out and meet the day.
[0:36:59.2] RD: I put one foot in front of the other and walk them out to the car.
[0:37:04.4] KM: What if everybody did go to Obamacare? Would it bankrupt you? If we did come up with federal —
[0:37:10.1] RD: Most likely, then we would sell supplements. If we had a single payer system where everybody on the same thing, then most likely it would be something, might be junk insurance. Who knows at this point? Then we would sell supplements to bring you back to where you wanted to be.
[0:37:25.8] KM: Do you care?
[0:37:27.7] RD: Well, I do, because I like the free market and competition and all that.
[0:37:34.1] KM: But the competition is not working.
[0:37:35.7] RD: But it’s not working like it is. It certainly is not. Like I say, if we have zero people, carriers in Arkansas on the individual market, then what’s going to happen if you don’t have access to an employer or if you’re not poverty?
[0:37:48.7] KM: Then you won’t have any supplemental incomes, any supplement and policies to sell at all.
[0:37:52.9] RD: That’s right.
[0:37:54.5] KM: Plus, you have to kind of do what’s good for America sometimes, and I’m worried about the expense of our healthcare.
[0:38:00.2] RD: That’s why I know the current administration is trying — It is going to implode, because the money is going to run out sooner or later.
[0:38:08.2] KM: For Obamacare?
[0:38:08.9] RD: For Obamacare. Now, we’ve not talked yet about the private option in Arkansas Works here in Arkansas.
[0:38:14.4] KM: Okay. Let’s talk about it.
[0:38:15.7] RD: The governor has made some changes for 2018. Currently, if you make up to $16,640, you can get a subsidy through the Department of Human Services, through Medicaid, and people in that category from 100% to 138% of the poverty level only have to pay $13 a month right now for their health insurance. If you don’t pay it it’s not like they’re going to come get you. They’ll just take it out of your state income tax refund. Anyways, $13 a month, we can afford that most likely.
[0:38:47.9] KM: Right.
[0:38:48.2] RD: Okay. Because of the cost and the fact that the State of Arkansas is going to start paying 5% of that premium, those people are going to be moved to the federal marketplace starting in 2018. Now, where I’ve been paying $13 a month, I may have to pay 113 a month, 213 a month depending on where I fall on the grid. Then once again, I’ve got deductibles and co-insurance. Those people have a good deal right now, but they’re going to take that away from them. Now, they’re going to go down. You can only make $12,000 a year.
[0:39:22.2] KM: Why did we do that?
[0:39:23.3] RD: Because of a cost. It’s just the way to help save that program money. Like I said, take those people and move them to the marketplace. That will start happening in March.
[0:39:34.8] KM: The cost to the state you mean.
[0:39:37.2] RD: Yeah.
[0:39:38.6] KM: Isn’t that our state is supposed to take care of its people though?
[0:39:41.7] RD: They’re going to take care of you if you’re up to 105% of the poverty level, which is about $12,000 for a family of one. You really got to be down and out on the money.
[0:39:58.8] KM: The money that they’re going to save —
[0:40:01.2] RD: Then that will hopefully help — Keep the program going for everybody.
[0:40:05.2] KM: Oh, I see.
[0:40:06.2] RD: The average premium — This is what’s crazy too. The average premium that the State of Arkansas pays for all of those people, and there are 60,000 in that category that are going to be affected in 2018. The premium paid for them is about, average, over $500 a month per person, and we have over 200,000 enrolled in the Medicaid program, a private option.
Anyway, over 500 a month premium a month to go into the carrier, and then the carrier still lose money. Once again, it’s the sick people that — Here is something interesting too. You can go to the — Let’s say you’re uninsured and you break your leg. You can go to the emergency room and you can — If you’re in that category of income —
[0:40:58.5] KM: 13,000.
[0:40:58.8] RD: 13,000. You can call our office, come see us. We can help you get enrolled in the private option or what’s going to be Arkansas Works Program. Currently, today, Medicaid will go back three months and pick up your prior medical bills. Of course, that’s going to go away, because that makes no sense. You wait till your house is burning down to go get insurance. There’s no way that’s going to ever make money. We help a lot of people that come in and have cancer or whatever. At least they’ll get their coverage for now.
[0:41:28.6] KM: This subject is just mind-boggling. Let me tell people who are you. I’m speaking today with Robbi Davis, owner and founder of the health insurance company called The Robbi Davis Agency in Little Rock, Arkansas.
I’m not going to go to a break. We’re going to keep going, because we’ve only got about 10 minutes left. Anything else you want to say about health insurance, because I’m going to move to your other passion.
[0:41:48.6] RD: Oh, okay. I was just going to talk about health savings account. Y’all are going to start hearing a lot about that, because the current administration wants to make that happen. So I’m a big fan of health savings accounts, because — They have no copays, which is not great. Which means you’re going to self-insurance yourself, say, for the first $2,000, but the premiums are lower.
The ideal is, instead of having a fancy plan with copays at the doctor and copays at the pharmacy, buy health savings account, save the premium that you would have paid the carrier, put it in a health savings account at a local bank and then anything you put in a health savings account is tax free and it rolls from year to year. It’s like a medical IRA. I want people to really consider those for 2018 when the new stuff comes out here in two weeks.
[0:42:37.6] KM: It doesn’t take the place though of health insurance.
[0:42:39.9] RD: After you meet your $2,000 deductible, then the carrier will cover you at 100%, for example.
[0:42:45.2] KM: Really?
[0:42:45.4] RD: Yeah. Like I said, you’re out upfront.
[0:42:48.3] KM: Let’s just say that again in — Okay. You go and open up a savings account called a health —
[0:42:55.3] RD: Savings account.
[0:42:56.1] KM: And they come to you and you’ll set that up for them.
[0:42:58.0] RD: Right.
[0:42:58.6] KM: Because you did that for me.
[0:42:59.8] RD: That’s right. You can put money in there. There are no limits.
[0:43:02.8] KM: Every month you take money out of my checking account and you put money in there till I get to my $2,000.
[0:43:07.9] RD: Even if it was just $10 a month, if somebody couldn’t afford anymore. Now, I’m talking about somebody that’s healthy, don’t have a lot of bills. You know, you’re not even planning to use it. Instead of paying the carrier an extra $100 a month, take it and put it in your savings account and then you get to take it off your income tax, and so you’ll save money on that.
[0:43:27.5] KM: Because you take it out of my checking account, it’s tax free money.
[0:43:32.3] RD: You’re going to report it on your 1040 when you do your taxes.
[0:43:35.3] KM: Then when I reach $2,000, you said — What happens?
[0:43:37.8] RD: Then after that you’re covered by the carrier a lot of the times at 100%, sometimes 80%. It just depends on whatever plan you want to buy. The plan that you have is a $2,500 deductible and then you’re 100% covered period for 12 months.
[0:43:51.6] KM: When I get $2,500 in there, I’m covered?
[0:43:53.3] RD: Mm-hmm. Then you’ll have the money to pay the carrier if you have an incident. Let’s say you had to go —
[0:43:58.9] KM: I see what you’re saying.
[0:43:59.6] RD: Yeah. If you had to have your gall bladder taken out, you’re like —
[0:44:01.7] KM: I’d have my deductible already in my savings account.
[0:44:04.2] RD: Yeah. Then you really have 100% coverage.
[0:44:07.2] KM: Then you really would have 100% coverage.
[0:44:08.9] RD: Yup.
[0:44:09.5] KM: Yeah, that’s a different way to look at it. I like that. You’re really passionate about something else? You’ve been an active fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation since 2010, your family’s team, Parker’s Pack, has raised — This is a lot, $100,000 for the organization. Tell us about that.
[0:44:28.3] RD: Which is amazing for a family team. Not a corporate team. A family team. We have lots of good friends, and some corporations have also given to that, which is wonderful. Here is the deal about type 1 diabetes. That runs nowhere in our family. My son, honest to goodness, was never sick before or since except for this one thing, and it is so scary, because they have — Your pancreas just quits working and it doesn’t matter — Diet, weight, whatever. Type II diabetes is where you get overweight and all that, but this is just health child gets type 1 diabetes.
The scary thing is, is they have can lows that are life threatening. To this day, like I said — He has a great attitude about it, which helps a whole lot. Anyway, every morning of his life, of course, we’re afraid to death. He’s going off to college next year.
Anyway, I go in, turn on the light and tough his face every morning. That’s what you do with a type 1 diabetic.
[0:45:26.5] KM: To save his life?
[0:45:27.5] RD: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[0:45:28.3] KM: Oh my gosh!
[0:45:30.2] RD: Thankfully, we’re on top of it. He has recently added a continuous glucose monitor, thanks to JDRF and other people who have funded that research, so that his sugar — He used to have to prick his fingers eight times a day to get a little blood droplet.
[0:45:45.9] KM: How old was he when this happened?
[0:45:47.5] RD: 10. I mean no — Didn’t know anything about it, never heard of it, and then all of a sudden he started losing weight, having excessive third and frequent urination. Then we went through the ER. Well, we went to the doctor’s office. He went to school, and I picked him up. It’s the end of 4th grade, and I picked him up and they said, “Y’all need to go on over to Children’s. I’ll call them and let them know you’re coming.” I was like, “What? What do we do?” I drove up here.
Anyway, we went to Children’s and they said, “Yup, type 1 diabetic.” Thankfully, we stayed there four days and four nights. We had to take a test before they would let us leave with him on how to treat it. I think nowadays you don’t get four days. That was eight years ago. I think you get about one, because the carriers are not willing to pay for it or whatever.
Yeah, we’re real serious about that. Like I said, he’s wanting to go way far off for school for what he wants to study.
[0:46:42.3] KM: Did you say no?
[0:46:44.1] RD: I said, “You’re going to apply and we’ll see what scholarships you get.”
[0:46:47.2] KM: I’m going to write him another letter behind you that says, “Don’t take my son.”
[0:46:50.8] RD: Anyway. Thank goodness with the glucose monitor, his sugar readings — We’ll be able to see it on my phone, my husband’s phone and his phone. Even if he’s in Chicago, I can look at my cellphone and know when he’s high or know when he’s low. That will be comforting. At least I can make a phone call and wake him up or something.
[0:47:09.3] KM: It’s so hard to be a mother.
[0:47:10.4] RD: Yeah, and it actually beeps this monitor. Your phone beeps when you get a certain low. It’s life-saving.
[0:47:17.5] KM: That’s the future right there.
[0:47:18.6] RD: Yeah.
[0:47:19.9] KM: Your husband, Scott Davis, joined your agency in 2014. I work with my husband at Arkansas Flag & Banner. I want to hear how your experience has been.
[0:47:27.8] RD: You know why it works? He would say, because he knows who the boss is and he just lets me think that I am or whatever, but it’s because we never see each other at work. He’s tied up in the individual department and trying to make all of that work, and then I’m in the group. We don’t see each other much at work.
[0:47:46.9] KM: What is your specialty? I’ve read you had a couple of special departments?
[0:47:50.1] RD: I do the group insurance. We really specialize in 2 to 50, which is a special market, 2 to 50 employees. Of course, we have plenty over, 100 too, but it’s kind of a special deal to 2 to 50. Different rules for them. Then we have individual department, and then we have a Medicare department.
[0:48:08.6] KM: I love that you have a Medicare department. Do very many agencies have that?
[0:48:11.8] RD: No.
[0:48:12.1] KM: Is that unique?
[0:48:12.9] RD: I think that’s unique. Yeah.
[0:48:15.2] KM: That’s because you’re such a caring person.
[0:48:16.9] RD: It is true.
[0:48:18.8] KM: it’s not just about insurance with you.
[0:48:21.3] RD: You have to have a passion for it or you couldn’t keep doing it, especially nowadays.
[0:48:26.4 KM: Yeah. You’re entrenched in it. You get up — I wish everybody could see what the desk looks like around here. She came loaded for bear with all these stuff.
[0:48:37.4] RD: I really appreciate you have me on, because it’s important I think for the public just to understand the basics.
[0:48:44.4] KM: I think you contacted me and said enrollment is going to be in November. Kerry, I have got to get on your show and tell people before it’s too late. I was like, “I love this woman.”
[0:48:53.2] RD: What’s sad is I didn’t even know that what happened last week was going to happen two months ago.
[0:48:57.8] KM: Every day is a new day. You always come to Dancing in the Dreamland, and so this year I have you special invitation to Dancing in the Dreamland.
[0:49:06.8] RD: Bless your soul.
[0:49:07.8] KM: All the people that have been on Up In Your Business with me are going to sit in the balcony, and there’s your special invitation. It’s November the 3rd.
[0:49:14.6] RD: Thank you so much.
[0:49:17.5] KM: It’s going to be great this year. We got Craig O’Neill and Poolboy. In fact, Poolboy is our guest next week.
[0:49:22.4] TB: I was waiting for you to ask. That is exactly our guest next week.
[0:49:26.0] KM: I know. I also got you this, because you’re an Arkansas through and through. It’s a desk set with the U.S. flag and the Arkansas flag for you to put in your office. I bet you don’t have one.
[0:49:35.2] RD: I do not have one.
[0:49:36.4] KM: I’m amazed how many people that I give this to that go, “I don’t have this.”
[0:49:39.0] RD: Yeah, what a great gift that would be, and I know right where I can purchase one.
[0:49:43.9] KM: Listen. Where’s your son thinking about going to school?
[0:49:45.9] RD: He’s looking at Columbia, in Chicago and in Rhode Island [inaudible 0:49:50.5]
[0:49:51.4] KM: Wherever he ends up, we’ll get him an Illinois or a Rhode Island flag to go in here. So we’ll have his representation there.
[0:49:59.0] RD: Sounds good.
[0:50:01.4] KM: Tim, who did we just say was our guest last week?
[0:50:04.2] TB: Poolboy.
[0:50:04.5] KM: Oh, that’s right. I’m losing it, aren’t I?
[0:50:06.9] TB: What station is he from?
[0:50:08.3] KM: Alice.
[0:50:09.5] TB: Alice. That’s right.
[0:50:11.1] KM: I’m looking for my notes on it here. Hold on. I’ve got them. They’re here somewhere.
[0:50:15.2] TB: He’s the MC of Dancing in the Dreamland.
[0:50:17.6] KM: Okay. Poolboy is going to be on the stage. He’s going to be our MC. He’s done it year after year. He’s great. He knows the show like the back of his hand. Craig O’Neill is going to be on the floor. It’s his first time. He saw the documentary about Dreamland and said, “Kerry, I’ve got to help.” He’s going to be in the floor. We’re going to have an intermission this year. It’s going to be four dancers and then an intermission and then four dancers get up.
Poolboy is on next week, and he has a show called Heather and Poolboy show, and they’ve been on a long time. I mean a long time.
[0:50:48.7] TB: I think they used to have a billboard over the bridge way back in the days.
[0:50:53.8] KM: You know, he is a really s softy. I’m going to make him tell the story about his first date with his, now, wife. It is adorable, and I’m not going to give it away. I think last year he spoke to a division of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital called Little Rock Family, and his topic was about love, maturity and life’s private moments. That’s a young man. I love him. No wonder I love him.
Okay. If you have a great entrepreneurial story you would like to share, I would love to hear from you. Send a brief bio and contact info to —
[0:51:28.7] TB: Questions@upyourbusiness.org.
[0:51:31.4] KM: And someone will be in touch. If you want to talk to Robbi — Robbi, how do they get in touch with you?
[0:51:35.2] RD: Our phone number is 501-954-8100, and then we’re at robbidavisagency.com, and it’s R-O-B-B-I, no E.
[0:51:48.2] KM: Oh, I wrote that wrong. As long as I’ve known you.
[0:51:49.4] RD: Yeah, it’s all right. Robbidavisagency.com or 954-8100.
[0:51:54.3] KM: Yeah. You can go on flagandbanner.com’s website and we’ll have all of the stuff that Robbi talked about today posted up there with all the links to important information, and we’ll have her contact info here so you can find it through flabandbanner.com.
Finally, to our listeners, thank you for spending time with me. If you think this program has been about you, you’re right, but it’s also been for me. Thank you for letting me fulfill my destiny. My hope today is that you’ve heard or learned something that’s been inspiring or enlightening and that it, whatever it is, will help you up your business, your independence or your life.
I’m Kerry McCoy and I’ll see you next time on Up In Your Business. Until then, be brave and keep it up.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:52:34.1] TB: You’ve been listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. Want to hear today’s program again or want someone else to benefit from it? Jot this down. Next week a podcast will be available flagandbanner.com. Click the tab labeled “Radio Show”, there you’ll find today’s segments with links to resources you heard discussed on this program. Kerry’s goal: to help you live the American Dream.
[END]
