The Benefit Whisperer

The Benefit Whisperer

Welcome to The Benefit Whisperer with Ralph Weber from Route Three, a full-service financial services firm specializing in all facets of insurance and advanced financial and estate planning needs. In this podcast, Ralph will share his expertise and insights to help business owners and employers maximize their investments in the face of the ever-rising cost of healthcare and benefits packages. Route Three partners with businesses like yours to keep these costs to a minimum, so you can continuously offer amazing benefits to your talented team! A key aspect of our business is working with our clients through in-depth discussions about business succession planning, life, disability, critical illness, and long-term care insurance.

Episodes

The PBM Princess: From Rebate Myths to Deception, How PBMs Hide True Rx Costs (Ep. 30)

October 13, 2025 • 27 mins
On this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber interviews Rachel Strauss, the "PBM Princess," to expose how pharmacy benefit managers manipulate contracts, rebates, and definitions to extract margin from employers. They break down contract landmines, phony transparency language, weak audit clauses, and the real story behind "100% pass-through." If you're an employer, broker, or benefits leader struggling to contain pharmacy...
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What If You Could Pay the Hospital with a QR Code? (Ep. 29)

October 7, 2025 • 28 mins
A trillion dollars. That’s how much the U.S. loses every single year, not on doctors or medicine, but on the billing chaos of healthcare. In this episode, Ralph Weber unveils something quietly revolutionary: Noverasys. It’s not just a payment system, it’s a reset button for healthcare costs. One where hospitals get paid instantly, patients stop drowning in surprise bills, and employers finally get transparency and control. You’l...
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Fiduciary Failures & The Great American Healthcare Heist: How Employers Are Being Played (Ep. 28)

September 30, 2025 • 22 mins
Employers are footing the bill, but locked out of the details. In this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber pulls back the curtain on how PPO contracts, TPAs, and PBMs are rigged to benefit everyone except the plan sponsor. Featuring insights from public-sector reformer and author Chris Deacon, this conversation breaks down: Why "discounted" claims may still be wildly overpaid How common gag clauses block your acc...
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Chris Deacon: $2B Scam Broker Kickbacks & PBM Profits Fiduciary Duties Exposed (Ep. 27)

September 22, 2025 • 25 mins
Guest: Chris Deacon, author of The Great American Healthcare Heist and former Director of Health Benefits, State of New Jersey. Chris joins Ralph Weber to reveal how her team saved $2 billion, including $400M annually on pharmacy spend, by exposing PBM shell games, fixing contracts, and enforcing fiduciary duty. 📌 Topics: How much waste is really in your health plan (30–40%) Reverse auctions and pass-through PBMs explained ...
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How Critical Illness Insurance Saves Families and Businesses (Ep. 26)

September 16, 2025 • 24 mins
What happens when the surgery saves your life, but destroys your finances? This episode spotlights critical illness insurance, an overlooked tool most Americans don’t understand and few advisors offer. Host Ralph Weber unpacks its history, why a world-renowned surgeon created it, and how it protects real financial lives. From replacing income during recovery to solving business succession headaches, critical illness insurance fil...
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From ICU to Insider: Nurse Deb’s fight for Patient-Centric Care (Ep. 25)

September 8, 2025 • 31 mins
Ralph Weber sits down with Nurse Deb Ault, a former ICU nurse who walked away from the bedside after a patient died due to profit-driven care. She now runs AIMM, a patient-centered care management firm with a 3% denial rate and Validation Institute–verified results. They talk PPO discount myths, P3CM, proactive navigation, and why DPCs are turning to AIMM to close the gap. If you're tired of feeding a broken system, this one’s for ...
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Zero Cost, Zero Access: Canada, Cuba, North Korea and the Reality of Single-Tier Healthcare with Dr. Raymond Rupert (Ep. 24)

September 2, 2025 • 26 mins
What happens when healthcare is free, but access is dangerously limited? In this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, host Ralph Weber is joined by Dr. Raymond Rupert, Canadian physician and founder of RCM Health, to pull back the curtain on Canada’s single-tier system. They discuss: The long and often life-threatening wait times for diagnosis, surgery, and specialty care Why Canada, Cuba, and North Korea are the only countri...
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Insurance FAQs: Your Employees’ Most Asked Questions (Ep. 23)

August 26, 2025 • 31 mins
What if your company could save millions on healthcare without cutting employee benefits?  Ralph Weber pulls back the curtain and shares real-life case studies from companies that did exactly that. From nonprofits to manufacturers to hospitals, Ralph reveals how they cut costs by up to 50% without sacrificing care. You’ll hear how one nonprofit saved $5.9 million over three years, how a hospital stopped enriching its competitors,...
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Why Collateral Sucks (and Other Truths About Captives) with Phil Holowka, COO of Complete Captive (Ep. 22)

August 18, 2025 • 26 mins
Captives are often pitched as the silver bullet for rising healthcare costs, but as Ralph Weber and Phil Holowka reveal, the truth is a lot messier. In this no-fluff episode, Phil, COO of Complete Captive, breaks down the real story behind collateral, risk pooling, and why most brokers are doing their clients zero favors. We dig into: Why collateral in most group captives is a trap How bad structuring leads to massive leak...
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Biblical Values in Benefits: Faith-Aligned Solutions for Christian Employers (Ep. 21)

August 12, 2025
In this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber talks with Ericka McPherson, Executive Director of Covenant Choice, a benefits organization designed for Christian employers who want to provide high-quality healthcare while staying true to biblical values. They unpack how Covenant Choice blends self-funded strategies, captive insurance, and legal protections through the Christian Employers Alliance to help faith-based organiza...
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Are Captives Too Complex? Phil Holowka Says You’re Asking the WRONG Question

August 4, 2025 • 26 mins
Are captives really too complex, or are brokers just afraid you’ll start asking the right questions? In this new episode of The Benefit Whisperer, host Ralph Weber sits down with Phil Holowka, COO of Complete Captive Management Services, to unpack the truth about group vs. single parent captives, and why most advisors aren't telling their clients the full story. From hidden expense loads to the illusion of control in traditional in...
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The Truth About PBMs and Rising Costs + What You Can Do About It (Ep. 19)

July 29, 2025 • 32 mins
Healthcare costs are spiraling out of control, but most employers don’t realize they have the power to change the game. In this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber explains why CFOs and CEOs must step into the role of health plan architects because fiduciary responsibility doesn’t stop at payroll. Ralph and co-host Bill Tucker dig into the truth about PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) and how these companies profit from ...
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Dave Chase, Co-Founder of Health Rosetta, Exposes the $5 Trillion Healthcare Scam Employers Are Funding (Ep. 18)

July 22, 2025 • 32 mins
Summary In this conversation, Ralph Weber and Dave Chase, Co-founder and CEO of Health Rosetta, discuss the hidden costs of healthcare and the need for a revolution in health plans. They explore the importance of transparency, data access, and standardization in healthcare contracts, emphasizing how employers can leverage these elements to achieve significant savings. The discussion highlights the role of open-source solutions in ...
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$11M on a $996K Bill? Dave Chase of Health Rosetta Unpacks the Hidden Trap (Ep. 17)

July 15, 2025 • 25 mins
Most employers have no idea what's really driving their skyrocketing healthcare costs, and it’s not just medical inflation. It’s the contracts they've already signed. In this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber sits down with Dave Chase, founder of Health Rosetta, to uncover the hidden clauses and incentives that enrich insurers, PBMs, and hospital systems at the expense of your people and your bottom line. You’ll learn: ...
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Are Your MEC & ICHRA Plans ACA-Proof? Don’t Bet $2,900 an Employee (Ep. 16)

July 8, 2025 • 20 mins
In this episode, Ralph Weber, known as the Benefit Whisperer, discusses the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its implications for employers. He explains the responsibilities of applicable large employers (ALEs) under the ACA, including the requirements for minimum essential coverage and the penalties for non-compliance. The conversation also covers the differences between self-insured plans and fully insured plans, as well as innovati...
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America’s $1 Trillion Healthcare Problem: David Sheinker on How to fix it (Ep. 15)

July 1, 2025 • 33 mins
What if the real problem with American healthcare isn’t medical but the familiar broken system that keeps your costs rising year after year? In this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber sits down with Dr. David Scheinker, Founder and Director of SURF Stanford Medicine, to unpack: Why rising costs are baked into the insurance model How digitization, wearables, and standard contracts could finally cut the waste What smart...
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Why Insurers Profit from Complexity and you Pay the Price with Guest David Scheinker (Ep. 14)

June 24, 2025 • 22 mins
🎧 Episode 14: Dr. David Scheinker on Why Healthcare’s Complexity Isn’t an Accident This week on The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber is joined by Stanford’s Dr. David Scheinker, a leading voice in healthcare engineering and reform, to break down the $1 trillion in administrative waste baked into the U.S. healthcare system. From vague insurance denials to year-long billing delays, Dr. Scheinker explains why these inefficiencies aren’...
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The PPO Shell Game: How Employers Get Trapped by Hidden Healthcare Costs (Ep. 13)

June 17, 2025 • 33 mins
Group health benefits are often sold as a shiny package, but beneath the surface lies a complex system that’s costing employers far more than they realize.  In this eye-opening episode, Ralph Weber pulls back the curtain on PPO networks, revealing staggering price variances, like a CT scan that can cost anywhere from $635 to $19,830, depending on where you go and what you know. Ralph unpacks the hidden mechanics behind cross-plan...
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The $5 Trillion Lie: Why U.S. Healthcare Fails Us All With Guest Dr. Don Berwick (Ep. 12)

June 10, 2025 • 32 mins
In this powerful episode of The Benefit Whisperer, host Ralph Weber is joined by legendary health policy expert Dr. Donald Berwick, former CMS administrator, Harvard-trained pediatrician, and co-founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, for a candid and urgent conversation about what’s really broken in American healthcare. Dr. Berwick pulls no punches as he exposes the systemic greed, institutional profiteering, and regu...
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The $11 Drug That Costs Employers $6,000 (Ep. 11)

June 3, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber and pharmacist Benjamin Jolley delve into the complexities of prescription drug costs, focusing on how employers can navigate pharmacy benefits management (PBM) to save money. They discuss the significant savings achieved by New Jersey, the impact of drug pricing strategies, and the legal implications for employers regarding PBM contracts. The conversation emphasizes the importa...
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