All right, welcome back to another episode of MillenniUP.

As you see here, we have a familiar face, Brian Cannon.

Hi, Brian.

Great.

So last time we talked to you, we were talking about you and

your new home with your wife, Sam.

And today we're going to be picking your professional brain about health insurance.

So, uh, we decided to bring you on, uh, Seth has known you for a while and

because of Seth, I got to know you and, uh, You know, I get to tell at least

a little bit of my personal experience because I was the average person

who was in need of health insurance.

Uh, so I guess I'll start with a little bit of my backstory with how I got to

know you and how you got into this mix.

And then you can tell us a little bit about what you do on the professional

end now that we know your background.

Personal home buying end.

So, uh, the year was 2021.

Um, so I had been shadowing with Seth, who's already has a backstory.

Um, when, before I got licensed and I had a little bit of a collapse, I

needed to go to the emergency room.

I did not have health insurance.

I had lost my job.

I was in the middle of hustling to get my real estate license and I

wasn't going to go to the emergency room because as anybody would say

in this country, uh, I can't go get.

Uh, healthcare, because I do not have insurance and it's

going to bankrupt me if I go.

Seth assured me, uh, it's okay.

I got, we got it covered.

I have somebody for you.

Just go get taken care of.

Took me emergency room.

Um, ended up meeting Brian, who then swooped in, saved my financial ass with,

uh, getting me the right health insurance.

And I actually had.

No idea that this whole end of things existed.

Um, I never had to worry about state insurance or anything like that.

Cause I'd always been insured by my employer, but as somebody who was not

insured by an employer, um, I had looked at the state insurance, but did not know

anything about like getting any kind of like credits or getting discounts or.

Like picking the right one.

And there was a lot that I learned from Brian over here about, uh, you

know, not overpaying for it and getting more of what you need for less money.

So that's a whole side of this.

We wanted to at least bring into the millennia viewer and the

average person to who has been struggling to find health insurance.

as part of the budgeting, uh, in their daily lives.

So Brian, tell me a little bit more about what you do and how you

even got into it and how passionate you are about health insurance.

I'm more passionate about helping people not get, you know, uh, the,

uh, short end of the stick when it comes to health insurance and healthcare costs.

So, yeah, I deal with different markets, you know, individuals just

like yourself, small business owners, um, people that are retired as well.

Um, but for our, our sake on this, this, uh, podcast here, I'll, I'll talk

a little bit more and expand a little bit more about, um, the individuals.

Um, because I was one of those individuals at one point, um, I always

got insurance through work and it was always a pick a, B, C, or D, you know,

plan and they took care of mostly everything and just told me how much

it was going to come out of my check.

Um, the first time that I went to go shop insurance for myself,

I'm like, Is this real insurance?

What is this all about?

Um, and I I've been in those shoes where it's confusing and I try not

to make it very confusing for people.

I ask a lot of questions just like you guys would ask lots of questions about

finding somebody's, you know, dream home or what's going to be realistic for them.

Um, and that's the same kind of process that I take is, is, you know, ask those

qualifying questions, see what their needs are, um, help people get credits.

There's people out there that don't know that they can get.

Uh, insurance, you know, uh, or help paying for their insurance.

You know, they think, oh boy, it's probably going to be five, 600 a month.

When in reality, you know, there's, uh, there's definitely programs out there

that can help pay for those, those things and reduce that cost quite a bit.

I think one of the like, biggest things, as soon as you

had asked me, like, well, what is important to you and health insurance?

That's nothing that I like ever expected.

Uh, Somebody to ask who's helping.

I'm just used to like, like you said, pick ABC or D there you go.

Goodbye.

And I was like, well, I have meds.

I have this specific doctor.

Um, uh, you're like, do you have to go to the doctor regularly

or is it only like infrequently?

And like asking those kind of like qualifying questions was stuff that

like, you made sure that like my medication was very affordable.

You made sure that I wasn't paying for something I was never going to use.

So, I mean, that's things that, um, I guess people don't really think about.

Yeah.

Or think that other people care about.

I mean, you're probably up there in the like lesser trusted industries,

just like we are and thinking that it's just like a scam and you're going

to get paid regardless, but you know, that's why you're in our sphere of,

um, vendors because we work with people who actually care about the individual.

Uh, what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see people make?

Um, When they're first coming to you.

Um, I'll share one recently.

Uh, so I was referred to someone who was on Cobra for about a year and a half.

Into their 18 months.

I think they had like 16 months that they, they paid for.

Can you tell us why we hate Cobra real quick?

Cobra is different a little bit, you know, whether it's a small group

or a large corporation and all Cobra is, it's just the continuation of your

existing coverage, but the full cost to you, not your employer paying part of it.

So, you know, you could have been paying 200 bucks a paycheck before or

a hundred bucks a paycheck before, and now all of a sudden it's 800 a month.

Um, and so I, there was a husband and wife and, uh, it was, uh, It was interesting.

The wife continued with her Cobra.

Her husband's like, I got this thing through, uh, the owner of

the business I work for said, talk to this guy, he'll help you out.

He sold him a plan and they went on their merry way for about a year.

And they got referred over to me to just take a look.

Cause she was coming down to the 18 months of her Cobra and said,

I need to pick something up.

I looked at her, I asked her situation and said, okay, you're married.

What does your husband have?

I said, let's take a look at that just to make sure that

everybody's in the same pot.

Turns out he did not have traditional health insurance.

What he had was something through U.

S.

Healthcare, which I'm not saying is terrible, but it's not a full insurance.

It's what's called an insurance.

It's like an accident and sickness policy where if you get sick, if you go to the

hospital, the company will pay you X amount of dollars per day in the hospital.

Instead of paying for your stay and saying you have to pay 500 a day.

So you typically buy those types of plans in tandem with health insurance.

So, you know, fill in those gaps, but he was paying close to 400 a month for that.

His wife was paying over 900 a month for coverage.

And after meeting with me, I got them set up with insane health coverage because

their taxable income was very low.

Um, because she was no longer working and he was, able to write off things for work.

I got them an insane plan for over probably just over 300 a month.

Um, very comprehensive coverage.

They were able to save, I don't know, eight grand or something like that a year.

Um, so that's one of the biggest mistakes I see is that.

Not every agent is the same.

And just like in your industry, not every age is the same.

Some people have commissioned breath.

Um, I don't because at the end of the day, I want to go, I want to go

to bed and happy and healthy that I did everything right by my client.

Cause I don't ever want that call saying, what did you sell me?

Yeah.

I, it's so funny.

I'm the disclosures and spectrum of presence, like I just don't want, I do

not want someone calling me and being like, how could you have you done that?

Like how, how could you miss this and like put us in this position?

So I can definitely resonate with that.

Whatever.

Um, you know, we, you know, obviously this is a real estate podcast we're doing.

Um, you know, we're branching out a little here, a little change of pace because

what we're trying to do is bring in other resources for people who are trying to

like kind of put their life together.

Like giving people the tools, resources and know how.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

You know, so, you know, in the, in the end, like, how have you seen, and you're

a homeowner, you know, um, and I assume you talk to people a lot about, you

know, when they lose their job, like if somebody like loses their job, like,

like we get that call because they're worried about paying their mortgage.

But obviously a more immediate thing is like, we don't have

health coverage anymore, or we're going to lose our health coverage.

Like, what is the thing that you tell somebody who's like, who like, you know,

owns a house or is even renting, but.

Abruptly loses their cover.

So their employer, like what's the next step other than to obviously

call you, but like, what is the thing that you do to triage that situation?

I mean, I guess every, every situation is a little bit different.

You know, some people lose their job, like, especially this year.

Um, I don't know what it is.

I mean, that trend is, is typical, but, um, yeah, I mean, people

just either have a little mess.

A lot of the people, thankfully that I have talked to have

a little bit of a nest egg.

But then they're, you know, expected income might be different for this year.

Obviously they don't know some people have jobs that they can easily replace.

Other people don't.

Um, so it's, it's honestly a case by case basis and seeing what I can

do to help them in that situation.

You

just mentioned something like with around job loss and then a

trend, you said it's more of a trend or it's becoming a trend or what?

Yeah.

Are you seeing people lose their jobs or at least changing jobs more?

Or talk to us a little bit about your employment.

Last year, this

year, it seems like.

It's been a very big trend.

The other trend I see is that people are leaving their jobs and doing more

self employed stuff, which is a lot of people that I deal with is, you know,

on that trend or last year I had a lady who was working for a company and

all of a sudden they just 1099 her.

So then she had to pick up her own health insurance.

So, um, yeah, it seems like companies are getting more creative with that

and just trying to save their own money rather than doing layoffs.

They just do, okay, you're, you know, contractor now sign a new contract

and then they get people like me to help them shop their insurance.

Yeah.

So let's talk about that a little bit because, uh, we realtors are

all 1099 and we all have to go find our health coverage from somewhere.

Uh, and I do, I, I just feel like there's this entrepreneurial

spirit of the last 10 years.

I think a lot of people from the great recession on one almost plant their own

flags, take their own claim, whatever, you know, analogy or cliche when you speak.

But, uh, what would you tell somebody who does have that W2 job and they

own a house or they've got a family or whatever, but they also want to

start their own business, whether it's a side gig, or if it's something that

they want to just go into, like, I have a friend who just let, you know,

both of them just left a very safe.

W 2 job, high income, and they decide to buy a couple franchises, you know, so now

they are full time, you know, uh, well, they're, they're business owners, 10.

99.

Uh, what would you tell somebody who is, uh, going down that

path for health insurance?

Like, what's their best bet, uh, you know, going

forward?

Because, because, like, they would be coming from a W 2

job and going strictly 10.

99.

A lot of the.

Premium subsidies and credits are based on expected income for that year.

And so they're in a nice fun spot where, you know, their expected

income could be very low depending on what their business expenses are.

That's the other big thing too.

A lot of people say, when I asked one of the first questions I asked him is,

you know, no one has a crystal ball, but what do you think your expected

income is going to be this year?

Um, and if they say, well, I don't know, well, it could be

one thing, could be another.

And there's, there's different ways that you can apply.

To be able to get plans, um, through the marketplace that would not be regularly

available for somebody who put in.

100, 000, 200, 000 income because the lower your income is on the application,

the more plans are opened up for you.

So there's cost sharing, reduction plans for people.

And that really helps a lot of people that are in that, you know,

infancy stage of their new venture.

Um, and kind of gives them that peace of mind that they're out of pocket.

It might be very limited that they don't have to spend 8,

000 in their out of pocket.

They may have to only spend 1, 500.

Um, and that gives them the You know the confidence to be able to do what they

need to do without you know It's one less item that they have to think about.

Um, the other thing too is that I I stay in contact with people or at least try

to because these Subsidies are income based on the year and if I talk to

you in january and you say okay It's going to be thirty thousand dollars.

I tell them at that point.

All right, we're basing it off of thirty thousand but if something

changes if you sell something big or if you You know big turn in the

market one way or another You Give me a call and we'll see what we can do.

What, you know, what your, uh, new premium might be because the last thing I want

is somebody to call me when they're filing their taxes and say, Brian, I

owe four grand what's up with that.

So, um, you know, I just tried to educate as much as possible.

Um, you know, kind of wrapping it back, just like you guys, you want to

do as much education as possible, um, for, for anything real estate related.

Yeah, I think that's something that was uh, it was

helpful at least in my experience with you and you know talking about

customization this is I feel like your industry more so even than ours is.

One that has more customization that people don't realize and like, I never

knew so with, you know, in real estate, we're commissioned only never know.

And when you asked me the same question, like, what do

you expect to make this year?

I think I just laughed at you.

And I'm like, I don't know.

I was like, it is so like, you know, who knows?

I said, you know, I, I don't know.

Like I could get like, Five settlements in one month and then

go like three months without one.

So, uh, you were like, well, you know, things people understand is that you

can pay, uh, smaller amounts per month.

It's all going to catch up to you at the end come tax time.

But it's like, you know, if I get like a big chunk of money come in,

I can then just like pay on it then.

And be able to kind of like pay down the amount that'll be due with my taxes.

But you do a very good job at educating that and making

sure that it's not a surprise.

And that if you take those routes, those routes, what the pros and cons

to them are and be able to weigh kind of like what is better for each person.

Yeah.

I think one more thing I'll add on that is just, I try to put myself in

that person's shoes and think of how would I want to be led in this way?

I mean, it's just, You know, it's treat others the way you want to be treated,

I guess the end of the day, but it's just that, uh, I want people to have

that comfortable feel because it is such a confusing marketplace for no reason.

Um, and I don't want to make it confused, more confusing to people.

Yeah.

So I, I, I have friends over and overseas and obviously,

you know, socialized medicine has its downside or whatever, but.

This is one area where I, I will openly admit, I do not know a ton.

Um, I've been very fortunate to always have access to healthcare.

I've never had to like go on the open, you know, the, the exchanges

or have to call Brian Cannon.

Um, what are some changes that are coming down the pike here?

I mean, I, I, you know, you and I are in a networking group.

We, I, we talk every week and I always hear that, Hey, we got this coming down

and you got to get this in by this and this and this, and then November, I For

somebody who is under the age of 50, because I know there's like a whole other

side of this up top where there's Medicaid and retirement and all that good stuff.

But for someone who's under the age of 50, like what are the big things

that people need to think about that are coming down the pike, whether

it be related to the election, like politics, or if there's just something

that's going to phase out or something that's going to phase in, like, what,

what can we tell our, our audiences?

Uh,

There's a few things, you know, every year and it's

65 is when it goes to Medicare.

So anybody under the age of 64 is on this individual market.

Um, and you know, every year open enrollment is from November 1st through

December 15th in the last couple of years, it's always been extended for

some weird reason or another because they have some kind of technical issue,

but that is the soup and nuts of it.

Um, in 2026 there's something that is expiring.

It's the, uh, inflation reduction act.

Um, that can be extended.

Um, but all that really is, is, is it's going from how things

are calculated now to how things were calculated prior to 2022.

I think it was, um, where right now the insurance can't exceed more than

eight and a half percent of your income.

Based upon the second lowest cost silver plan.

It's very confusing.

So, um, Neil, are you like

spinning?

I'm like,

what is all that?

I'm, I'm already confused.

, they pick a benchmark plan.

Let's say it's, uh, silver Plan with Blue Cross, right?

That costs $300 a month.

Um, if your income is less than, I don't know what the calculation would

be, but $3,600 exceeds your 8.5%.

They're going to give you a credit to make that, that, that 3, 600 plan only

eight and a half percent of your income.

So if your income is only 20, 000, then you're, you know, you're going

to definitely pay a lot less than that or a lot less than the 3, 600.

But, um, the, the way that it's going to go back to was a bracketed system.

So it's anywhere from, I believe, 150 percent to 400 percent

of the federal poverty limit.

So there's going to be four different brackets.

It's how it was before where, you know, right now a couple that's

60 is going to have an income.

Like let's say one person that's six years old can make up to 150, 000 and get

credit towards their health insurance.

Whereas somebody that's only 25 might have an income limit of about 38, 000.

So they, because people that are 60, their insurance costs

more than somebody who's 25.

I know I'm losing people here.

But I've been lost for the last 45 seconds.

So yeah, it's essentially going back to a simplified system.

That's going to screw a couple of people.

I'll just be honest with you.

Which bracket are we screwing here?

Yeah.

Who's, who's getting screwed now?

Brian is going to be screwed the most.

Listen.

You know, it's, it's

don't get started on what I

say

out of their like 1.

8 million homes that they purchased for like 1, 000.

And Just hush.

And there's also going to get a client over the

age of 50, I guarantee you that.

Okay.

All I'm saying is our age bracket has been screwed enough.

Like help us give us a little something for one.

Yes.

We were very well documented that we get with that.

This.

We're very happy, Brian, that you're saying that people over 50 and not

under 50 because, I mean, then we would probably have to stay on here forever.

I'd be like, okay, it was really great talking to you.

I'll, I'll add to that.

So people over the age of 50 and families, I think are going to be affected.

Okay, so it was really great talking to you.

Wait,

why families?

Yeah, why

families?

So it because it goes off of household size as well.

Um, the family of four prior to this inflation reduction act,

um, was capped at about 100, 000.

And now because it's, you know, it's Age based as well, you could have 40

for a family of four is like, that's not that much.

It's not, it's not.

So, um, and those numbers will be higher just because of inflation

and the federal poverty limit being higher now than it was then.

But, um, yeah, family of four right now could make 200, 000 and still get

a fair amount towards their insurance.

And they're going to be losing that.

It's going to be affecting them by a couple hundred dollars a month.

Um, so yeah.

Um, and it's not something that's set in stone, but it is politically based.

So, you know, depending on who gets in office could have a

effect on that negative response.

This is not a political podcast.

Everybody listening, . Yes.

These are facts.

. These

are not facts.

These are not opinions.

They're what's

expiring.

Exactly.

Um, so, but my, my old.

Adage and rule of thumb is as soon as you give something to people on

the individual market, especially, and you try to take it away, there's

going to be negative consequences.

It's the exact reason why social security will never, ever, ever.

Yeah, they're

going to probably extend it.

I don't know.

No, one's got a crystal ball for that, especially, but.

Um, yeah,

it's one of those things I like people need to like

factor into their budget though.

I mean, if somebody decides that they want to start taking a business venture of

their own and you know, I like, I know for me specifically, like if I were ever to

plan to move, like, you know, I can't for the next two years, or at least I'd have

to plan for two years as 1099, because I'd have to like, make sure my income

would be able to show and match what I would need for qualification purposes.

But if you're going to be in the process of planning out your, your

budgets, your finances, your income.

And all of that in the next like couple years, somebody wants to buy a house,

things that people need to factor in are health coverage and what that's

going to look like down the road.

So do you think it's safe to say that if it is like family of four or above to

be able to kind of buffer in a few extra hundred dollars just for health care?

Yeah, I mean, I think it would be safe to, and we'll probably

know a little bit more towards the end of this year and the beginning of next.

What's going to happen with it.

Um, I mean, there is also ways that we could just downgrade the coverage to, or

take a look at options for kids on chip

as

well.

Which is a state based program.

And what I think is great about, uh, sorry to cut you off,

but what's great about you helping, uh, people and, uh, people knowing that

there are people like you to be able to help navigate these things and they

don't have to do it on their own is like, you don't get a cut from CHIP.

Like you don't get paid for people going, like putting their kids through.

Um, like state paid insurance.

Uh, but I know like you helped me when I was getting mine.

Um, and I had Jackson to cover, you set him up on chip and you get nothing out

of it, but except for me contacting you like every month and sending everybody I

know to you, knowing that you can sleep at night knowing that I'm covered and my son

is covered.

Right.

I mean, that's also part of the going to sleep at night and

knowing I did the right thing.

Not everybody's situation would be best to go to chip, but in your specific situation

and based upon what we talked about, that was the best situation for you.

So what would make it, what would make somebody not

families typically?

Cause it actually helps pay like the, based upon their income and

where that's at, they might actually save money by keeping the kids on

their plan versus going on the chip.

So it's, it's, it's not a blind.

I don't have a blanket approach to anything.

It's like a, it's like a big puzzle.

I mean, every, every situation is a little bit,

it's just like a real estate transaction or, you know, right.

Yeah.

Like if I could shake every person who doesn't get like W 2 employer benefits

and just tell them to have a conversation with somebody who does this all day,

every day, and to not self navigate it, I would, I would shake them over for you.

But it's the same thing I would do to them for talking to like a lender

too, or just like any person who can make somebody's life easier.

It's like, why do things?

yourself when you don't have to.

Yeah.

And I mean, that's, that's kind of the other piece of it too, is that people

that are 1099 and, um, are starting those business ventures, they don't

know what's going to affect them when they go to buy a piece of real estate.

Um, so that, that also kind of does trickle into a conversation also, you

know, pushes over people to an accountant, you know, there's people that are, you

know, 1099 that, you know, aren't filing taxes properly or the way that they should

benefit themselves, you know, so I don't, I don't give tax advice, disclaimer, but

we don't give legal advice, disclaimer.

No, um, I stay away from those, but I can only speak from my

own experience and, you know, When I do help people like that, it's,

you know, beneficial to them, keeps them, you know, in a, in a sphere of

people that I know, like, and trust and I'm able to, you know, genuinely,

you know, provide them some help.

So,

yep.

All right.

Well, I think we can leave it there.

Uh, how does someone get in touch with you, Brian?

If they want services, like where, where do you cover?

You know, you're, we're all Pennsylvania based, but like, talk

to us a little bit about how you can best help as many people as possible.

So I am licensed in about seven states.

Um, the closest ones to us is Jersey, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland.

Uh, not in New York, New York's just a different beast.

Um, but I can help anybody in those areas.

Um, you can contact me.

I can provide my contact information.

I don't know if you guys can put it in the show notes.

Um, I am coming out with a new website for myself.

That's going to have some helpful tidbits on there.

It's going to be Brian Cannon, LLC.

com.

Don't go there right now because I accidentally published it and

there's really nothing on it.

But, uh, that should be coming out in the next couple of weeks, but it'll

go over, you know, common questions that I get and different, you know,

helpful information because everybody's looking for surfing the site for

some insurance info, obviously.

Well, if it is up and running by the time this gets published,

we will also put that in the show notes.

Perfect.

All right.

Well,

thanks for joining us.

And we will, uh, we will, uh, be obviously sending everyone your way

that needs health insurance and, um, have a great day, everyone.

Thanks.

See ya.