Broker of the Month - Griffin Meredith

We are excited to announce that? Griffin Meredith- Founder Built In The Bluegrass ?from Commonwealth Insurance Partners is our broker of the month!

Griffin is a committed? Health Rosetta ?benefits and healthcare advisor whose objective is to?empower his clients with the highest quality benefits at reasonable and sustainable cost. His outstanding leadership in the field is evidenced by his involvement in enrolling hundreds of lives with Excel Health Plans .

However, what motivates him?

Griffin was able to share some of his secrets and sources of inspiration.

Here's what Griffin had to say:

1. What success story with Excel Health Plans are you most proud of?

"There are several success stories that having a solution like Excel has easily been implemented for small businesses.

We had an 18-life group that was getting a 60% increase with Humana Level Funded, taking their annual spend from $140K to $224K. This was a company that could not afford the increase. After digging into the details, we determined the primary cost was a prostate cancer drug that was a $140K claim through Humana Pharmacy, but other than that, claim history was pretty standard. We moved them to Excel Health Plans and first cleaned up the claim from ~$12K monthly to $3K in month one by simply eliminating the PBM mark up, brand fill, and spread pricing. Ultimately, in month two, we procured the medication for an average of $450 per 90 day supply by sourcing from a pharmacy with no PBM contracts. This group is funding to the max and at less than $120K per year while their other claims are running at a 50% loss ratio."

2. What has been a time you've wanted to give up? What did you do to keep pushing forward?

"The hardest times are when a lower compensated employee that you are trying to assist thinks you are working against them, and that you are working for the “insurance company”. They believe that since this month it didn’t work like last month that something is being taken away from them. There have definitely been times where it would be easier to say --"ok, lets not fix the underlying cost. Just give your insurance card and then we will deal with the horrible increase that you and your company can’t afford at the renewal time in 11 months". That is the part that keeps us pushing forward -- the fact that every circumstance of short-term lack of understanding and temporary pain is ultimately short lived. And we know that if we remain calm and assist them to understand this seemingly opaque system, they are better off, their employer is better off, our agency is better off (because the group gets out of the annual fire drill), and ultimately transparency and education in the American healthcare system is better off."

3. What keeps you motivated every day?

"Knowing that we’ve built and continue to build a business that is making 20% of GDP even when it seems to be uncontrollable and opaque. At our agency, when something comes up that seems as if it is an emergency or at minimum an “oh no” circumstance, we can relax because the positions we put clients in we can defend in any board room, on every camera, and to every seemingly vulnerable participant that we have an answer to make sure they are financially protected and setting themselves up to receive the best care possible."

Wow! Griffin, thank you for sharing your experiences with us! We are glad to continue working together for a better future.

Sincerely,

Michael Patton

President of?Excel HealthPlans