My wife and I have been teaching Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace classes for nearly 20 years and have had the opportunity to see thousands of lives changed forever. As an employee benefits advisor my goal is to be a change maker in the Healthcare Industry as well! I recognize that “Health Insurance” is only expensive today because “Healthcare” is expensive. Interestingly, Healthcare is the only product in North America that we actually purchase before knowing the price, no wonder it is a $4 Trillion industry. Can you imagine buying cars or even groceries like we purchase Healthcare? What I have found is that most employers have experienced the same story for years now; cost of benefits are going up, yet the quality of benefits to their employees continues to go down. The result has been inflating healthcare costs, tighter company budgets, and less satisfied employees. The reality is that this is not a sustainable model for employers. This has presented a tremendous opportunity for savvy employers to look for creative solutions outside the traditional healthcare packages typically offered. They are finding that with the right advisor by their side, they can reject the status quo and instead find new models that provide better care for their employees while reducing costs for the company. My mission is to be the advisor by their side. I am here to help CEO’s, CFO’s and HR Directors identify new and better options to solve the healthcare challenges in their business. I accomplish this by opening dialogue and creating space for colleagues to share what is working in their companies. If you are struggling with the same challenges in your business, let’s look for a new way to approach employee benefits. Sometimes a simple cup of coffee can shed light on how to save thousands on the bottom line, while developing a more satisfied workforce. You can reach me at jestes@higusa.com Examples of how I have helped people recently? • Through hard work and persistence, I have helped REDUCE healthcare costs 3 consecutive years with a 100 employee company WITHOUT changing their current benefit plan. • Through research and creativity, I identified some unique savings opportunities in hospital services and ambulatory/surgery centers to reduce a company’s healthcare cost by 10%