S03E14: Need Care for a Complicated Diagnosis? It Shouldn't Be This Hard.

Cristy Gupton and Ann Lewandowski discuss the unaffordability of the healthcare industrial complex, along with anecdotes of people navigating the complexities of traditional “insurer-built” health plans".

Show Notes

Ann Lewandowski is a strong and courageous person who has stood her ground in the face of complex disease and still stands ready to advocate for change in how health plans provide payment for that care. Ann understands what it’s like when physical challenges meet workplace challenges. Sometimes it takes more than your ordinary level of accommodations. It also means the health plan you depend on should be designed properly.

Healthcare professional and host, Cristy Gupton, interviews Ann Lewandowski as they point out that employees who need healthcare for complex disease shouldn’t feel ostracized at work. In the new world of work, there are almost unlimited ways to help those with different abilities to still be productive while they journey through their illness.

Learn more about the healthcare industry by following the Healthcare Solutions Podcast. Need healthcare consultation, benefits strategy and enrollment, or fiduciary training? Custom Benefits Solutions has your back.

Timecodes

[00:00:00] Intro

[00:02:10] Lewandowski's Life

[00:08:30] Her Job Journey

[00:14:46] Treatments are Unfair (But they Should be Fair)

[00:18:36] We Shouldn't Be Disposed of Because We Don't Have Disposable Income

[00:28:15] Protecting the Plan + Sickness = You Shouldn't Lose Your Job

[00:38:15] Protecting the Person

[00:42:35] Direct Primary Care

[00:47:30] Closing

Ann Lewandowski

Our Guest

Ann Lewandowski's journey through the tangled healthcare system isn't just a series of career moves; it's a testament to her vow to transform the landscape of patient care to help others avoid the horrific experiences she has faced as a patient. Her simultaneous personal and career journeys testify to the power of courage, compassion, and collaboration and her unwavering commitment to a more equitable future.

Ann continues to push for patients to finally have a seat at the table rather than an afterthought in a system designed to care for them. In founding Patient Centered Policy LLC and co-founding Equitable Evidence (EqiEvi), Ann has cemented her place as a trailblazer in patient advocacy. Her fearless approach to tackling the most complex issues in healthcare is not just a job; it's a calling that she embraces with super dry humor, laughs, and an unwavering spirit of innovation.

Cristy Gupton

Your Host

Cristy Gupton is an employee benefits advisor and President of Custom Benefits Solutions. Cristy has been part of the employee benefits industry since 1998 and has been named to Employee Benefits Advisor Magazine’s Top 20 Women in Benefits Advising in both 2018 and 2020. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Health from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in Health Benefits Design and Health Informatics from University of Lynchburg. She holds the designation of Global Financial Steward from Wake Forest University’s Center for Board Certified Fiduciaries and seeks to help employers be the best fiduciaries they can be.

Cristy belongs to an elite group of benefits advisors called the Health Rosetta and another similar group called Mitigate Partners. Committed to transparency in all her business endeavors, guiding and teaching employers and employees about health plan design and accessing the highest quality healthcare at the lowest possible cost. Cristy is a sought-after speaker on healthcare cost/quality issues and is a national thought-leader and expert on Direct Primary Care; specifically, how DPC doctors’ memberships can be embedded into employer-sponsored health plans, lowering costs, and improving the patient experience. Cristy has written articles for BenefitsPro Magazine and Physician Outlook Magazine. She leads the NC/SC Chapter of the Free Market Medical Association and the DisruptHR Asheville and Wilmington Chapters. Giving back to her community is important; serving the Foothills District of the Boy Scouts of America as their membership chair as well as other organizations.