Healthy Business Matters cover art

Healthy Business Matters

Healthy Business Matters

Written by: Dr. Andrew White
Listen for free

American employers are spending more on healthcare than any other country in the world, and outcomes continue to get worse. That disconnect is why Healthy Business Matters exists.

In this introductory episode, host Dr. Andrew White, founder and CEO of AlignWell, explains the purpose of the podcast and the problem it’s designed to tackle: a healthcare system that rewards spending instead of results, and benefit strategies that look good on paper but fail in real-world execution.

This is not a podcast about vendor demos or polite conversations. It’s about how employee benefits actually work, and how they fail, in real employer environments.

Who this show is for

  • Insurance brokers working with self-funded, captive, or level-funded plans
  • HR leaders, CFOs, founders, and executives responsible for benefit decisions
  • TPAs, PBMs, and point solutions operating in the employer health ecosystem
  • Anyone accountable for benefit design, budget, and outcomes

What you’ll hear on this podcast

  • Real-world benefit design and execution conversations
  • Why many benefit strategies fail despite good intentions
  • The difference between education, behavior change, and outcomes
  • Mental models for designing benefits that actually move the needle
  • Conversations with operators, brokers, TPAs, PBMs, and industry leaders who are in the trenches

Key ideas from this episode

  • The healthcare system rewards spending, not results
  • Employers are the largest funders of U.S. healthcare — and the biggest lever for change
  • Real reform comes from how employers buy, not from legislation
  • Most benefit strategies fail because they start with compliance instead of intent
  • Knowledge alone doesn’t change health; systems and accountability do

Listener promise If you don’t leave each episode with an idea or perspective that improves your decision-making, the episode failed.

New episodes release every Tuesday, with occasional bonus conversations.

Get in touch

Have a topic you want covered?

Know a guest who should be on the show?

Want to share feedback or learn more about AlignWell?

hello@alignco,life

Align & Co. 2023
Alternative & Complementary Medicine Economics Hygiene & Healthy Living Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Heathy Business Matters: Less Guesswork, Better Benefits: A New Approach to Open Enrollment
    Oct 12 2026

    Open enrollment loses employees at the 200-page SPD. Benefits veteran Brandan Bruce shares how Help Me Choose Benefits gives employees simple, personalized guidance on what to enroll in and what to skip, and employers can launch it in days.

    In This Episode

    • Brandan's path from benefits admin and enrollment tech to Voya and Prudential
    • A no-login, no-app tool that recommends products based on family, finances, and health
    • Engagement tips: QR codes in enrollment materials plus multiple entry points
    • Right-sized advice, so employees see goals they can actually reach
    • AI that explains the "why" and translates into other languages

    Key Insights

    • Education without guidance leaves employees guessing
    • Less friction (no login, no app) means more usage
    • Recommendations must feel achievable, or all advice gets ignored
    • Plain-language explanations of products like hospital indemnity drive better decisions

    Who It's For: Employers, HR leaders, and brokers heading into open enrollment.

    About Brandan Bruce:

    Brandan Bruce is a lifelong employee benefits and insurtech entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience across nearly every side of the group insurance industry. His career includes more than a decade in benefit administration and outsourcing with Mercer and Businessolver, followed by leadership roles on the carrier side with Voya and Prudential.
Brandan has founded and led three insurtech companies—Advice2Pay, T2B Solutions, Inc., and Help Me Choose Benefits (HMCB)—focused on solving complex industry challenges through technology. Today, he leads HMCB, an AI-powered benefits guidance platform that simplifies benefits and helps employees understand why—or why not—a benefit makes sense for them.
Outside of work, Brandan enjoys spending time at the Lake of the Ozarks with his wife Pamela, their family and grandkids, friends, and dogs. He is also an accomplished woodworker whose creations can be found in all 50 states.

    Resources:

    Connect with Brandan Bruce via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandan-bruce-73211a6/

    Email: brandan@helpmechoosebenefits.com

    Questions, topic ideas, or guest suggestions? Reach out: hello@alignco.life

    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
  • Heathy Business Matters: The Missing Rail: How to Move Plan Dollars in Direct Contracting Deals
    Sep 15 2026

    Direct contracting stalls when nobody can move the money. Cory Morin explains how BenjiCard's pre-funded virtual cards pay providers at point of service, save plans money, and cut member costs.

    In This Episode:

    • Cory's path from insurance sales to fintech
    • BenjiCard: pre-funded virtual Visa cards for TPAs, health plans, cost containment partners
    • Virtual-only cards via Apple Pay/Google Pay; no physical cards
    • Guardrails: U.S.-only, healthcare merchant codes, spending caps, provider locking
    • Tier-zero/tier-one use case: waived member cost for pre-negotiated providers
    • Next up: combining member cost-share and plan payment into one transaction
    • Mostly TPA/health plan distribution, some direct-to-employer

    Key Insights:

    • Payment mechanics, not the contract, are the real bottleneck
    • Prompt payment aligns providers, plans, and members
    • Guardrails (not trust) make member-held plan dollars safe
    • HSA/HDHP rules mean member cost-share isn't going away — one combined payment is next
    • Fewer layers (direct-to-employer) beats the standard TPA chain

    Who It's For: Brokers/consultants on direct contracting; HR/CFOs funding cost containment; TPAs, health plans, and cost containment companies.

    About Cory Morin:

    Cory Morin is the CEO and Founder of Benji Card, a healthcare payments platform built to make paying for care as simple as it should be. Based in Saratoga Springs, Utah, Cory started Benji Card to create alignment among the stakeholders in the healthcare transaction through the use of pre-funded virtual payment cards.

    Before founding Benji Card, Cory spent years as a licensed insurance advisor, selling property & casualty insurance, small group health plans, and payroll services. That hands-on experience gave him a front-row seat to how businesses actually manage risk, benefits, and cash flow.

    Cory holds a bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurship from Brigham Young University and a Master's in Business Creation from the University of Utah, pairing formal training in building companies with real-world sales and advisory experience. Today, he leads Benji Card's mission to give health shares, TPAs, health plans, cost containment solutions, and other healthcare organizations more control, transparency, and simplicity over every healthcare dollar spent one payment at a time.

    Resources:

    Connect with Cory via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corymorin/

    Email: cory@benjicard.com

    Questions, topic ideas, or guest suggestions? Reach out: hello@alignco.life

    Show More Show Less
    19 mins
  • Heathy Business Matters: Stop Loss - It's Not a Data Problem. It's an Engagement Problem.
    Aug 25 2026

    Dr. Andrew White talks with Trey Hinson, a 26-year self-funded insurance veteran, about why stop loss carriers and DPCs (direct primary care) keep talking past each other — even though their interests are actually aligned. The takeaway: the disconnect isn't a data problem, it's an engagement problem.

    In This Episode

    Trey's path from Blue Cross Blue Shield to advising 91 TPAs and 150+ point solutions. Why stop loss carriers ask for detailed data — and why it's about shared risk, not distrust. The two metrics that actually matter to a stop loss carrier: engagement and medical trend. How to approach stop loss the right way, through the broker, TPA, and carrier.

    Key Insights

    Employers and stop loss carriers are the two parties with real financial risk in a self-funded plan, which is why data-sharing matters so much to carriers. Point solutions need engagement on two fronts: with their own patient population, and with their TPA/stop loss partners. Stop loss carriers care most about engagement rates and multi-year medical trend, not feature lists. TPAs act as the aggregation layer that turns fragmented vendor data into something a stop loss carrier can use.

    Who This Episode Is For

    DPC providers and point-solution operators, brokers and TPAs, and employers running or considering self-funded health plans.

    About Trey Hinson:

    Trey Hinson is the founder of Goliath Sales Strategies, LLC, and a 25-year veteran of the health insurance industry. He has built and led revenue teams across fully insured, government program, and self-funded markets, advising payers, TPAs, brokers, and benefits technology vendors. A PAHM-certified executive, Trey speaks candidly about what it takes to grow sales teams CEOs trust, build pipelines that don't lie, and become the name buyers remember in a crowded healthcare benefits market.

    Resources & Links

    Goliath Sales Strategies: https://www.goliathsalesstrategies.com/

    LinkedIn: Connect with Trey Hinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/treyhinson/

    Questions, topic ideas, or guest suggestions? Reach out: hello@alignco.life

    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet