Humana - Risky Benefits Podcast S5E3

This episode of 'Risky Benefits' features Laura Nolan, Director of Public Sector Sales at Humana, who shares her 25 years of experience in the industry to discuss key trends in dental and vision insurance. She talks about the impact of employer group benefits on public sector employees, such as teachers and city workers, and highlights the importance of preventative care and on-site services. Laura also shares personal insights about her wellness goals and underscores the benefits of AI in healthcare for improving efficiency and early diagnosis. The conversation sheds light on how robust benefits plans are crucial for employee recruitment and retention in both public and private sectors. 

To listen in and subscribe to more episodes, visit our website: fbmc.com/podcast.

Transcript

Risky Benefits Intro : 0:03

Hey, thank you for listening in to risky benefits a podcast that informs you on all things benefits We've got a saying around here Benefits isn't your main business It's ours

Laura Nolan: 0:16

Hey everyone, thank you for listening to risky benefits and welcome to this week's episode. Our guest today is Laura Nolan, Director of Public Sector Sales at Uvana. Laura has been in the industry for over 25 years. Holding several leadership, talent management and sales roles. And today, she's going to help us unpack some of the key trends in dental and vision insurance, as well as the impact employer group benefits have on public sector employees, specifically to include teachers. Bus drivers, city workers, you name it. As we all know, these are the people who keep our communities running and their health is essential to the work that they do. We're really thrilled to have Laura on today to talk through her insights on a variety of wellness topics. From, let's see, the convenience of on site dental and vision services, to the importance of preventative care. We will explore how these offerings can enhance employee well being and ultimately productivity. So, Laura, so nice to have you. Thanks for coming on. If you don't mind, let's just start with you maybe introducing yourself and telling the listeners a little bit about you. And I don't know, maybe just get into some things that you're passionate about, kind of why you're doing what you're doing. Sure. Thanks for having me this morning. It's great to be on this podcast. I'm excited and yeah, I've been doing this a long time. So I have been in the business for over 25 years, 22 at Humana. Humana is a really fantastic organization and Humana's been around for Well over 50 years specializing in group benefits. I would say part of what I'm passionate about is really helping and caring for the population. I'm, I'm in the public sector, so I, I live and work in my community. I'm passionate about Florida, our school board, the education for our children. And Humana really allows me to help improve the lives of those that are on our benefit plans. So making sure that people are happy and healthy and working in the public sector so they can give back to us and serve our community our families, our grandparents, our children and make sure that we're also safe and thriving across Florida and the entire Southeast. That's cool I was just thinking like what might be kind of a fun way to help people just Connect with Laura and so like whenever I ask people, how did you get into the insurance industry? I get some of the funniest answers. Because it's never, it's never like, I was in school, and I just woke up, and I was like, I want to be in insurance. So I'm just curious, what got you into insurance? So I was here at, Florida State University. Go Nels! Graduating and thinking, I don't want to go back home and live with my parents, right? That's what every child is thinking after this life of independence. And so I started, interviewing for job opportunities, when I was graduating tech was a big boom. I thought, Oh, I want to go in tech sales. I do happen to have, family in the business. So my dad was a consultant for many years. And he looked up all these opportunities in the industry and said, Hey, I want you to go interview over here and over here, you know? and so once he brought some of those to me, I started interviewing and the company that hired me, offered me. a company car and at the time I was driving my parents like 10 year old hand me down four door sedan that was definitely not cool for a college graduate and they also said and to entertain and to take you know brokers or partners out you can have a corporate credit card and I'll tell you what my eyes were just like What? Okay I mean, this is the job for me. I knew I could be out and about, not sitting in an office, talking to people, and just think about that as a college graduate. You know, they're going to give you a car and a corporate credit card and you hit the streets So, that kind of, you know, excitement and opportunity is what got me in. Probably couldn't even spell insurance. At that point, but they did send me to a group school, so I had to go away for a month, they tell you all the ins and outs, make sure you're licensed, train you on, presentation skills and things like that, then they stuck me out in the field. I feel like that, like such a big difference from, you know, sales in different industries. A lot of people are, flying and they're all over the country, but like it, especially in Florida, if you have kind of a job within Florida. It's such a big state, and it really is just easier sometimes to drive. So you do see, a lot of companies that say, like driving, you're gonna drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive. Right? And I think, like, that, is kind of the interesting, it's a different dynamic in Florida, and working in Florida, than, say, some of the other states. But yeah, I could see that, like, as a person coming out of college, being like, alright, this is a new world, let's explore. And what was the car? I did not really care at all, I just wanted, I'd never had a new car in my life, so, yeah Very cool. So if you weren't in Employee Benefits and Sales, what do you think you'd be doing? The answer is probably different now than back then after all this year, the years of experience and everything, I probably would love to be a mentor, a coach, a motivational speaker. I can see that. That's what I'd really like to do, and I love to coach and help others, so that would be a passion of mine. Very cool That's awesome. Awesome So. We're in February now, what's still kicking off the year. People are kind of setting health and wellness goals, whether it's better eating, exercising more, just taking better care of themselves. I know, me personally, like, I've been cold plunging since, I don't know, a couple months now. And it's kind of, I told Daniella this morning, it's kind of waning because the pool's getting, like, It's not as cold. It's still cold enough to take your breath. Yeah. But I, now I'm staying in for three minutes instead of one minute, which I could only do one minute because it was in, like, the forties. But there was snow on the ground. Now it's in, like, the Call it 5860 and it's just so I'm like really quickly realizing that oh, by the way, we live in Florida So soon I'm gonna have to either get a cold plunge or like take a cold shower But it's nice. Yeah, so like that's one of my things I guess, you know, maybe talk to us about Your personal wellness goals you have this year and and kind of health and wellness in general Sure. Well, I have done the cold plunge a few times. It's tough. It is tough. It is not something I've been able to fit in my regular routine. Although I do love the infrared light saunas. Do you? So that I am really getting into and trying to build in. I would say my overarching wellness goal for this year is to strengthen relationships. That's what's really gonna help me improve my health overall. And so I do love. I love to work out and exercise. Maybe my answer would have been if, if, I had any skills, a professional athlete, but I don't like that could be my athlete career. I just like to do it, but, so I've been working on that and I've been doing, like group workouts, going to, community yoga, and then my neighborhood has started a group. Where we're doing it at sunrise at a friend's house On Tuesday mornings at 6 a. m. Where we're just all getting together. Everyone has a cup of coffee Afterwards and we're just like supporting each other And making sure that I do it Also with my family. So everything I do with My family. My daughter is now in college at FSU. So she's my health and workout partner. She was my tennis partner over the summer. She did, you know, classes with me. So just making sure to really Integrate physical activity with that community and yes. Yeah, absolutely. And Laura, you're in Jacksonville? Yes. Okay, so when you're describing, for those that are listening, when you're describing like a morning yoga session with the sunrise, like you're right there on the east coast, sun's rising over the ocean. Are you doing it on the beach or are you just at a friend's house? Doing it on the water. Oh, amazing. I was guessing, but that is pretty cool. Cool. That's awesome. Okay. We need to come over and like just have a week with Laura and do all of her workout routines and all of her community. Yes. Sounds great. Perfect. Come on. Anytime. So from an industry perspective, how do you see employers supporting their teams in prioritizing health and wellness, especially in the public sector? Yeah, so it's a priority. We know that people are always talking budget cuts and financial and grants and public sector, making sure they have enough funding, even to staff, you know, their, their community, whether it be a public entity or a school board. and so I think benefits overall, having a really robust benefits plan is critical to recruitment and retention. And, while medical is a core focus group benefits like dental vision, life and disability are all absolute necessities. I don't think that you can leave any of that out in the public sector because this is what's going to. help improve their health overall, you know, their oral health, their ocular health, everything that goes along with that, but also protect them financially. We know that the public sector, you know, the average incomes tend to be lower than in the private sector, so they need that protection from having benefits like that. Okay. Well, talk to us about some of the health trends as it relates to, say, dental revision dental lot lot there's so many and it really does correlate a lot with, you know, kind of medical care too. So what you see in the dental, and vision world, at dental, especially we have launched teledentistry. It became popular. I think the tipping point was probably during those COVID years when all the dentists shut down their offices and people needed care. But also it really is important. It's important that they have access to care in our rural communities, and then after hours and weekends, because unlike medical, you don't have urgent care or emergency room dental care. So, if people don't have access to care, they will go to a traditional emergency room. for a dental issue. And so it's really important that, you know, Humana incorporates teledentistry and they make it accessible. It's right through the mobile app. So you can just click and connect, to a teledentist and that's just one of the trends we're seeing. That is interesting. I, so I've never tried something like that before and I'm kind of in my head, I'm like, I wonder how that works or like what they. Yeah. So do you have an example of something that they could help with? Sure. Oftentimes it's going to be like an oral infection, right? And that is something that's absolutely going to keep an employee out of work. The pain that you can have with an oral infection can be. Almost debilitating, right? Where people can't even move. And so, they are likely to go to an emergency room if they can't get a dentist, you know, through a virtual access. And then most of the time that dentist is going to immediately give them a prescription, right? start to heal that oral pain. And then coordinate to make sure they can get back into their traditional dentist. So it's not a substitute for, it's not encouraging them to leave their family, dentist. It's just making sure they're cared for in that time of emergency. Yeah, that's cool. Well, I did, I, you know, the big thing is when I think about dental or even vision procedures, a lot of times if you're going in, yes, there's obviously the standard. Visits and you pre schedule those, but like when you have an issue issue, maybe I have I Don't know something happens in it and to your point. I'm having pain. I don't know what's going on It stinks to be all right No, I have to try to schedule an appointment and get in and I can't yeah to just at least you could call and say Hey, what do you think is going on? You know what I'm saying? So I could definitely See the value in that. Talk to, what does it look like on the vision side? So on the vision, access to care is also really critical and what companies like Humana are doing is we're bringing that care on site to our public sector employers and What that looks like is really pretty cool. You've seen traditional companies. They'll say, oh, we're having a health and wellness fair And we're doing a vision screening. Well, that's great. A lot of times that vision screening is just telling them Hey, maybe you've never worn glasses You should, you know, you should book an appointment with an eye doctor. But what we do is we take it to the next step and we actually bring a full sight. Full vision exam and an optical store so all of the glasses and frames that you want to choose from Can be right there on site to one of our public sector client at the actual support. Yes yeah, and then people get their glass or their prescription They can order their glasses and have them right back delivered right back to their office. That's pretty cool. That's really neat. Yeah. Yeah And it just keeps people at work, and they don't have to take time off, and you know, that type of thing, so it's great. I noticed, like, in the notes, you had put a note about just using AI within the process of, early detection. Like, talk to us about that, like, you know, obviously we learn a lot about, like, where the world's going with AI, with chat GPT, and all these other versions of, functionality, like, for example, You know, radiologist and, using AI to kind of look for, things that maybe a radiologist wouldn't detect, right? In an MRI as an example, how are you seeing that kind of in the dental and the vision realm? So we really see it more on the back end with claims. Our goal is to make sure that our providers are happy. And so it's been something that Humana has always had that. strength, having a national network. We don't want to just have high numbers of Dentists or eye doctors, we want to make sure that we have the right ones in our network and that they're happy with us, so we retain them. And so most of our claims are what you call auto adjudicated, where somebody goes in and they are at the dentist or they're getting their eye exam and everything is automatically processed so it's a very high speed of pay back to that provider. AI is helping us. Let's increase that even greater so that they're immediately paid those claims are processed. We're using that technology to make sure things are coded appropriately. We can pay and faster pay for all of our providers. Okay. And then the other note we had was on like kids. I guess it sounds like the data is starting to show that kids are becoming like nearsightedness is becoming more of a thing. And I think you guys were doing something in that realm as well. Yeah, so, so kid eye health, is really important. I can speak for my own. I, was one of those children, if you've ever seen me. Did you have them with a wrap around? I had a patch on one eye. Oh, yeah. And I had glasses since I was two years old. Okay. So I'm very passionate about it. And then, you know, recently we had our Olympian, the, and I I can't remember his name, but the, um uh, The gentleman that is so famous now because when he takes off his glasses, he's almost blind and you know, is it the palm horse, the gymnast, the pommel horse guy? We'll, to Google his name, but he's, he's I think, helped us in the industry create more awareness as well. Oh yeah.

C0006: 16:37

there's there's

Laura Nolan: 16:38

looking it up, keep going. Oh, I cannot think of his name. But I will tell you, so there's a couple things when it comes to children's eye health. First, being passionate about school systems. if the children are not diagnosed early and they do not have their glasses in the schools, they are probably, it's probably really, detrimental to their learning abilities which we see all the time. So, that's critical, is making sure children have access and can get their eye exam and afford glasses. But then under our plans, we provide to make sure that The frames and the lenses are really lightweight. We all have children here and we know they're running around and playing sports. And so we want to make sure, that the, lens wear and everything that they have is light and easy and can't be damaged or broken. So part of that is also built in the polycarbonate lenses to our plans. And then what, did you find his name? Yeah, it's Stephen, I'm gonna totally destroy it. Oh yes, his last name. Stephen Nidorasek. I don't know, but it's Steven. Yes. Steven. Steve. Steve. Steve is He's such a, he's a great guy. And then he was on Dancing with the Stars and he's, you know I'm gonna have to like find him and pop him up and then. Yeah. Yeah. there is another thing that's, Humana, make sure to build an audience. All of our plans, because I will say from a vision perspective, there are hundreds of diseases that can be diagnosed through the eye. So, brain tumors, diabetes, glaucoma, just to name a few. Just based on what's going on with your eyes Yeah once your your, eye doctor looks into your eyes, they can see and I have a really good friend who's also my eye doctor and she says, I ask her these things, just being in the industry, she says, I've had a couple scary moments where I immediately will send people to a hospital because she knows, they had no idea she looks in their eyes and she knows that they have something very serious going on. Yeah, it's interesting, you don't generally You wouldn't think that there's that, yeah. It's like I, know that like if I have an abscessed tooth and I don't do something about it, it can create something that's catastrophic. But then you don't think about, hey, this is just me looking in your eyes creates and I, can see indications of other health. It, becomes part of the preventative maintenance. Wow. That is cool. Super cool. Yeah, and diabetes is a big part of that so that's one thing I would say and and a great benefit and why is every employer needs to have a vision plan is because Having this type of preventive in here or early diagnosis of other diseases that aren't even related to the eye Can also help lower Medical costs. Yeah. And we include a diabetic rider for anybody who has type 1 or type 2 diabetes where additional services additional in depth screenings, multiple routine eye exams are all covered at a hundred percent. To make sure that they are in there and you know a diabetic absolutely could lose their eyesight if their diabetes and their, you know, eye health is left untreated. Yeah I always think about And I saw kind of some of your comments in your notes, even about like law enforcement, emergency services, people where I guess in certain circumstances they may not want glasses, they may prefer LASIK or some kind of procedure, but Obviously their eye health is exceptionally important to what they do Especially driving heavy equipment and you know, I'm sure there's a lot of liability there And they're probably having to go through the exams on a regular basis. Yeah, I would think Yes, absolutely. I mean, you think about any law enforcement, fire, all of them, you want to make sure that they are getting their regular exams and their prescription is up to date, right? So they're getting new lenses every year, not just kind of sticking with those old lenses. And then teachers, you know, it's really important. Whoa, whoa, whoa. If I'm a student, I'm like, no, I want teachers to have bad eyesight lot and I'm going to sit in the back of the class. And not see me taking a nap back here. The less they see, the better. younger nap on your phone. It's not a calculator. Like When you talk about younger elementary school kids, they probably don't even know. Yeah. That's, that's, that's like how like, you know, they're, they're born with, you know, not great eyesight and then they're just growing up that way and then all of a sudden you put'em in a classroom setting and they can't see the board and they're like, is it supposed to look like that? I don't know. You know, or they just struggle in class and knows why. Yeah. I think a lot of times, like I've, even with the kids, like I've had conversations where I, I'm, I'm curious.'cause if they're struggling in a class and like, Hey, where do you sit? Do you sit up front? Do you sit in the back? If you sit in the back, like, are you having, or they'll be like, man, I just keep getting headaches. And I'm like, what's going on with your eyes? Like, are you able to see okay? And they're, first thing, they're like, what do you mean Well, if your eyes are straining all the time, you're gonna get headaches and you start to ask these kind of questions But it would probably get vetted out. Yeah, obviously it would get vetted out if you're because we all remember, right? It looks like Yeah, you see better with this one? Or this one? And it's like lens, lens, lens, lens, lens, right? Yeah, and you got the like triangular letters And actually Madison at a young age got diagnosed with astigmatism and before they knew the letters So it was like shapes and it's like as a young child, like they might not even know like what and some of them I'm like, I don't know what that is. Like, what are you trying to show me? But it's, it is interesting because you just don't really know. And, for her, she, doesn't wear glasses today, but I'm always asking her like, Hey, do, can you see the board? Like, are you having issues? But yeah, I think it's it's interesting. We, we don't talk about like productivity. We talk about health, when we talk about insurance, we often talk about the cost of it. Right. Right? But like, I feel like as a society, what we don't focus on is, absenteeism as much. Yes. It's, it's like, yeah, there's also, there's a cost to it, but there's also a cost to, like, people not being able to go to work. Absolutely. And then, like, history, if you're a teacher and you don't show up to work, we now have to hire a substitute teacher. And like, there's a cost, there's an actual impact to the business. And then, people are, and the students learn, and or like if you're buying a product and people are absent and there's an additional cost, now the price of the product goes up, right, which is a part of inflation. So, it's like, a heightened awareness around if you're doing your dental stuff and your vision stuff. on a regular basis and getting it checked, you're less likely to have that issue that keeps you out of work. Because something happens. Which happens. I mean, it happens. So, I guess, we don't talk about that a lot, but I mean, that is one of the benefits here of, of kind of managing and maintaining your health and wellness from that perspective. It is, and it's so critical. So what we do and our teams do is make sure that we encourage utilization of our plans. And us in the industry, we kind of think, ooh, a lot of times we're sitting in meetings and we're like, ooh, you have too many utilizers or it's too high. But, you know, I talked about teledentistry. The other thing that we do on our dental plans is oftentimes we include a third cleaning. Which everyone's used to two cleanings a year, but we go ahead and include a third cleaning with no medical prequalifiers So we've seen some other companies say well if you're expectant It's really important that you have you expect a mother important that you have a third cleaning or maybe if you have another condition But you need to get your doctor to approve it before it's covered Yeah, at Humana, we waive all of that just because we want to make sure it's accessible Accessible to the members and then we'll actually bring dentists on site as well So we will go and have a full Dentist set up at an employer public or private employer where they can come on site do the cleanings Especially if it's that third cleaning they can even do fillings You name it and that really helps to make sure that people are using the plan Just making it easy to do the right thing. Yeah, it's kind of so this is Not similar, but similar. One of the most convenient things that, I worked at a place of employment back in the day, and there was a, like, when you walk into work, there was a guy sitting there with a scheduler. And he'd be like, hey, you want us to wash your car while you're at work? And it's like, I can just give you my keys, get on the list, and when I come out to my car it's gonna be, beautiful and clean after my day of work? I'm like, heck yeah. You know what I mean? And at that point, if he told me it was, 50 bucks, I'd be like, okay. Convenience factor. Right. So, to your point, when it's even more important, right, it's my health, and I only have to do that, it's not, like if it's three times a year, or two times a year, it's totally worth your time to do that, save the extra scheduling, getting out of work, even think about, like, my wife, trying to get to the dentist, and she, we have three kids. Okay, If I'm here right now recording this podcast and she's taking the kids and dropping them off and whatnot, then it's like, when does she schedule that? Because between that and pick up and then sports and everything else that's going on, it becomes very hard to find that time. So if she drops the kids and then starts her work You know what I mean? And or if I'm now here and as soon as I'm done, so definitely just being able to walk out and be like, I'm going to get a dental. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It becomes a high, I think that becomes a big value. It taps into my next question, right? Which is, and I guess this is part and parcel to how Dental and vision insurance is evolving within the industry and this is more of a policy kind of procedure Evolution where you guys are deciding to cover a third Visit right? Yes. What other things are you seeing trends that you're seeing as far as the evolution in dentistry and vision insurance? Well, definitely wellness additional screenings, like oral cancer screenings. We are seeing a lot of people ask for fluoride later. They used to kind of only do fluoride until age 7, and people are asking to have it, additionally, almost like a cash pay dentist are saying, well, you can do additional screenings beyond the age 8. of H7, and so we've made some adjustments there, and then we have a plan that's a DHMO, and we've added, services like teeth whitening, right? It's cosmetic, but people want to have access, and it's very popular these days, and so we're going to be able to, use and leverage our network to provide that to, to them under a co pay or a discount on our plans. Okay that's cool. So, we talked a little bit about this, but, sometimes it gets overlooked how closely the dental and vision can tie to your overall health and well being. And I know you mentioned the, the eyes and being able to track things through there. Is there anything else that you want to mention on that? Well, certainly from an oral health, you know, we talked a lot about vision, oral health. I think, you know, you mentioned it, if you have something going on or if you have periodontal disease, that can lead to heart disease. It's, you know, there's a direct correlation and it's a whole, your body is holistic, right? So it's everything that you're doing. If you are not taking care of your teeth and you have infection or disease in there, it's going to, you know, run throughout your entire body and cause additional issues. And so that's really why it is so important to get those cleanings and to take care of the issues you have. One of the number one reasons why people don't take care of their oral health issues is the cost or the fact that they've hit their annual maximum. So on dental plans people may have a 1, 000 annual max and if they have a Some major surfaces that can be covered and then their dental coverage is over, right? Everything beyond that. So what we've done is we've created a unique solution to that called the Extended Max. It extends beyond your annual maximum, so you never go without coverage. If you hit your example, that 1000 max, but maybe you need some deep periodontal cleanings maybe you need a root canal implants, you know, major services, we will continue to extend your service and give you a 30 percent benefit above and beyond that annual max. for the life of your plan. And that's a really great way to keep people healthy, to make sure that they don't say, Oh, I've hit my max in August, I'm gonna wait until January to get this root canal and sit there in pain or having it deteriorate. It makes me wonder why there's not so, there's health and wellness dollars, right? And it's like, I almost feel like the wellness dollars. People apply wellness dollars to go to the gym but I have no way of really knowing that people went to the gym. I know we use trackers, we try to figure out ways, but in my head I'm like, wouldn't you want to use those wellness dollars for people going to the dentist and going to vision? Doing preventative care, yeah. Because essentially, vision and dental visits are preventative care, right? So the tie back is, take like, okay, Somebody flosses their teeth, right? And their gums start bleeding. Okay, so You also have plaque in your mouth, right? And then you think about well, what is plaque in The arterial system. It's like what causes a stroke and or a heart attack. So clearly there's preventative components to brushing your teeth all the time not having your gums To where they're gum disease and they're bleeding like that. And so you can kind of see these connections to your overall health and say things that could become catastrophic down the road. All right so then if I'm actively utilizing my plan for dental and vision, why wouldn't there be a wellness credit on my medical plan as an example? versus somebody who's not. Because you would think that I'm being more preventative in my overall maintenance and care. It is interesting to me as I kind of process through like the A, the importance of, just going in and getting the procedure done, obviously be helping me fund it through insurance, and it, and then I guess like I start to think about like the connection to the wellness credits and or to the behavior, like the fortification of the behavior within the employer's plan to say Hey, we need to like encourage people who are doing this over people who aren't doing it. Yeah. You know? Well, and, and like you said, I think when you think wellness, you think, Exercise and even annual physicals or mental health is a big thing these days, which is great But you don't automatically think dental and vision, but that is two main things that are, you know You absolutely should. Yes, yeah, and we, you know, we do that. I know for myself under our wellness plan. We are rewarded it. They want to make sure you're getting that routine checkup, your oral exam, your eye exam. But you're just talking wearables. I know we're all really passionate about wellness here. There's one, tool that Humana has partnered with a company called Truth Brush, and you're gonna love it. Truth Brush. You're gonna love it. And I'm probably Geez! There's a lot of people out there in the world that don't want that. Well, I'll tell you, you all are probably gonna have to You're gonna have to I'm gonna have to send you four of them for a while. I wanna hear this. It is for children. Yes, please. And it's a wearable device. Not wearable. You attach it to their tooth. And it has an app based tracker that will show you, are they getting all the corridors of their teeth? Or how about their teeth at all? At all! Why are you pretending like you're just missing a spot? My three year old's just like sucking on the toothbrush. I'm like, you have to brush your teeth. I'm not gonna name names. I'm not gonna name names, but I was talking to somebody last month, and literally, he looks at me and he's like, yeah, I just, I shame the kid. And I was like, what do you mean? And he's like, well, as soon as they walk down, I'm like, your mouth smells like a cat box. And I was like, so I was saying, what? And he's like, yeah. And then I'm like, get back up there and brush those teeth, please. Yeah, you don't even have to know because you know. Well, the best part is, is he's like, oh, yeah. He's like, Rick, if I don't say it, they're gonna go to school and somebody's gonna think it or say it. Yeah, right. It better come from you. You didn't mean so, and I started laughing. And now I'm just imagining him having this toothbrush and like looking on his app and he's like, Truth brush. Truth brush. Back upstairs, you know what I mean? I saw, you only got those from upstairs. away It's so funny. That's great. Golly, kids can't get away with anything now. No. Oh my goodness. Oh, this is funny. That's awesome. But then again, I think about, like, the kids who, they have, like, these requirements for their sports now to, like, run and literally, I talked to my girls the other day, and they're like Yeah, my friends just stand in the house, and they just stand in one place and do like this, and it gives you the points. And I was like, That totally defeats the purpose. You know, like that is not, that's not winning. You're not, you know what I mean? It's like, you're going like, you know, I might as well put it on the dog. You know what I mean? Now I'm imagining somebody with a tooth pulled out. The dog imagining things dog dog also did all my wellness steps, all the things. Oh my gosh, this is cool. But that's fun, that's cool. I've actually seen, like, I was just Like high blood pressure and things like that. It is pretty cool, some of the wearables that are coming out for that. And just the, the compatibility back to an app And then even like if you have an Apple iPhone, they now pull the data from multiple apps and kind of accrue it into one location. So like I use MyFitnessPal to track what I eat, right? And then I have the whoop that I wear for my It's my wearable for like general biometrics, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, workouts, all that, calorie tracking. Sleep. Sleep. And then like, and then I have a scale that like takes my body fat percentage and does all that stuff. Well, so that's three different things I just described to you. But Apple pulls all of that into one. And so it kind of, it's interesting, it tracks like all of it. And then it's got the decibel readings for sound now. It's, I mean. Where the market's going on this stuff is pretty cool. So it is interesting to think about that being integrated into vision and dental. You know, it makes me wonder at what point I keep, like, the Super Bowl commercials I saw for, like, the meta glasses. Yes, yeah. And I'm like, I wonder when they come out with glasses that are Behind camera, he's wearing them right now. Yeah, are you? Yeah. So I'm kind of curious, like, when are the glasses gonna Imagine if they could have, something that's looking at your eyes too. Yeah. Right? Because at some point. And like, measuring, you know. Yes. Yeah. Eye health. Because at some point, if I, if the glasses aren't gonna like, know what I'm looking at to, they'd have to have a camera looking out and a camera looking at my eye. They're probably doing it already. You need to look at this. Right? And so when the camera starts looking at my eye, at that point, you could put some kind of, biometric, something to, for eye health. I mean, it, what, my point is. Eye health. It's really going to be interesting to see where this stuff goes. Yeah, I agree. And you mentioned even, hearing. So that's a benefit that we offer with our dental and vision. And it's a, Hearing test, it's a program called Audicus, which is all virtual, so that's something also people tend to neglect, or they just think, I'm just tuning people out, I don't know if I have any hearing loss or anything. To your point, that's a slow decline over time. Yes. So that's the boiling frog, you wouldn't necessarily know. Most people don't know, and they, especially the younger you are, you just don't check that out. You know, it's something that you don't pay attention to, but also the younger we are the more years we've used headphones or exposed to loud noises and things like that, and so that can all be detrimental to your hearing health, and so that's, it's a nice benefit that we partner with Audicus to provide all of our members discounts. to check that out and also get hearing aids if they need them. I, you know, it's interesting how that stuff happens. I worked as a management consultant in a lot of different fields, but specifically oil and energy. You got individuals that are banging hammers, and in the moment when you're banging a hammer, or doing something loud, you guys know the feeling of going to a concert, right? And then you leave the concert and you're like, man, I can't hear well. Like, you almost can't hear well at all That detriment over the long term is significant, but a lot of times it's not that feeling of I just went to a concert, right? You're banging on it, nothing happens, and then you move on. And that's what makes it hard because there's no immediate consequence, right? So then you're like, ah, it's fine, it didn't do anything, and then they keep doing it. And to your point, it's like not till years later that that decline starts to happen. And the best way I know to tell somebody to like test that, just Just so you know, if you, there's things on like YouTube or on social media where somebody will be like, all right, listen to this sound play and get one of your children and bring them up next to you. They'll start it at one range and then they move it to a, and it keeps going and at some point I can't hear it any longer and my son's like, I can hear it. And I'm like, oh my gosh, like, I totally cannot hear that. Wow. And so that is just a descriptive example of like what you're ultimately saying. You know that tri that thing that was like, the blue dress or the black dress or whatever from years ago? Yeah. But it's like people see it differently. Yes. I saw it blue. But I would have never known that somebody would see it differently and tell it was like a thing But it's the same thing like what you're saying you don't know that you're not hearing it until someone tells you or you're not seeing it properly You're not seeing the board. It's not supposed to look blurry or whatever it is, you know You just don't know. The AirPod Pro now has a test so Apple phones You can put your AirPod Pro and go into a quiet space and it will do a full hearing test for you That is That's crazy. I love that. Yeah. I think that's what these tools should do. Yeah. Absolutely. you know, why wouldn't you integrate that stuff? I had questions on here that I feel like we've kind of covered. Like I was going to talk about public sector employers, teachers, firefighters, city workers, and specifically how dental and vision help keep them healthy and performing at their best. You, access to utilization, I feel like we talked about a lot of that, preventative care. And, job demands. I feel like we talked about a lot of that. Maybe, Kyla, just kind of get into Yeah, and, and I think we covered this a little bit. There's probably more to be said. Uh, when employees have solid benefits in place, what kind of impact do you see in the productivity and the job satisfaction? I mean, that, uh, and I, I think I mentioned it before, In the public sector, it's just so critical because public sector employees are there for the benefits in the long haul. We see a much higher retention of employees there. And they're, they're there not necessarily for the salary, but for all of the benefits and the retirement there. So it's important because they are such legacy employees and they have so much more tenure than in the private sector that you keep them healthy because they're likely to be on your plan not just 5 years and go to another employer but 50 years or, you know, 30, 50 years until they officially retire from that public entity. And so it, it's like owning them for a lifetime and so making sure that they are as healthy and their overall health and wellness is top priority is critical because it's critical. To keep, keeping them proactive at work, but then also the financials of all of the benefits and the plans, you know, and then you know what's interesting about, like, what you're saying? I'm thinking about this through the lens of the private sector, and if I'm private sector, listening to what somebody's saying the value is, and how it's perceived in the public sector, I would almost sum it up by, like, saying something like this, It's like Okay, we all agree that people generally have a tendency to want to work within the public sector. If you move past like the desire to serve and what those other like cultural components and you just say Some of the value perceived is higher benefits. They understand the pay is a little lower, but you get, more rich benefits. It would also be fair to say that there are a lot of dual income families where one of the spouses works for, say, government and the other is in the private sector, but they're using the benefits. absolutely. Because it's a lot cheaper. Right? But it's also, not only is it more cost effective, it's like better benefits. Yes. So that's a net benefit and gain to the family. So if I'm a private sector employer hearing this, what I'm actually hearing is people are willing to take a career that, that offers better benefits over higher salary. Yep. And so, okay. Then if I say, okay, I'm going to fight for competitive salaries because I have to within my space. But if I have additional margin and I'm trying to figure out, like, what's the best strategy for recruiting and retaining employees, clearly, by enriching those benefit plans, that will help. Because we've got a whole segment of people that will take a job for that. Yeah. Right? that then lets me kind of look at that from a private sector standpoint and basically say this is how important the benefits packages truly are in retaining and recruiting, employees and, maybe just let that speak for like why you need to prioritize that in your thinking and in your strategy making for your for your plans as a, as a private sector employer. Yeah, and in private sector, you're absolutely right, because, there's so much private sector competing with the public sector. For example, in Florida. Charter schools, private schools, Catholic, Christian schools, all the different schools, they are competing for that same teacher population base, but most of them in the private sector don't offer that full retirement, you know, the Florida State retirement that the teachers do in the public. So they need to further enhance their benefits and, you know, make sure that they have not only a comprehensive package, but in many cases, a better package than in the public systems and the private, private companies are also having to be more flexible at work, you know, flexible with time off or volunteer time off, things like that to make sure that they can recruit against public entities. To be competitive. It makes sense. Looking ahead, Laura, what do you think the future holds for dental and vision benefits? Feel free to specify public, private, whatever sectors of the market Any predictions on how these benefits are going to kind of continue to evolve from where we are right now Yeah, so I, you know, I'll say this is, this will be the, the Laura comment, just, you know, from my, my own thoughts. I think that those type benefits will be more influenced by social and social behaviors, and social media. I've seen a lot of that trend in the oral health, but also from a vision perspective. But oral, you see a lot of people talking about teeth whitening and veneers. And I've even seen people, you know, a big trend and it's probably more on Tik Tok, but putting, you know, diamond bling on their teeth and things like that So it's going to be interesting Those are not, you know, A lot of that, that's all cosmetic and not medically necessary, but I'm, I'm wondering if there will be a conversion at some point. Like we've already added teeth whitening to some of our plans and having that benefit. Will some of those influence those services? And then from a vision perspective, I think we're going to see a lot continuing to evolve in the wearables, your frames and the styles. Everybody wants their own style and then accessibility. So, I mean, we have. Five of our providers are online Providers you want to just go online and order your contacts or you want to go online and get a new pair of Ray Bans You can try them on virtually and have them shipped directly to your house We'll see more and more of that. I think it's pretty cool Well, this has been so fun, so a couple like last fun questions, what is your go to productivity hack? Oh my goodness. Uh uh well, listen, I love AI So AI, I am with it all the way. I use it every day I think people are missing out if they're not using AI, it doesn't matter if it's for my own travel plans, organizations Excel spreadsheet tracking, or if it's just writing memos and doing marketing. AI is my productivity hack for sure. And what is one book or, podcast that you'd recommend to our listeners? Aside from ours, obviously. multiple multiple Yes, absolutely. This is my, number one. I, so I'm in multiple book clubs right now. We do have a book club at work. I have my own. I actually have two personal book clubs I'm in. I'm an avid reader, but more so I'm an avid listener because I'm on the road a lot. And so I would say, I love the apps and the tools that will summarize. It's the top, trending business books or historical books and it will give like all the key points and the highlights and that, that's probably my favorite thing, but I'm, I use Audible, I use Libby, so I get all my, Free books from the public library because oftentimes I'm reading two books at once. Okay, this is totally off topic, but I have a question for you on Libby. My mom and I were talking about this the other day. Why is there a wait for a virtual book? Like, I don't understand. It's not like it's a library book that you're checking out. Like, it's, an audible book. I don't understand. I mean, it's like they're just building demand. Yeah, I have five on wait lists. Yeah. Right now in my Libby app and that's all I do is I put them in because it'll say two weeks through. I think it's the licensing. Yeah. So that's. Meaning like they can only distribute so many at a given time. And it'll tell you, it'll say we have two on waitlist, we only have ten copies of this. It's audible. It's like, you know, it's audio. How interesting is that? Yeah. My mom and I were talking about it. She was like, I'm waiting for this book. I've been waiting two months. She was like, I don't know why I'm waiting so long. That's a really good question. I never even You know, normally the ones I get, I just get them. I haven't encountered that so much On Libby? Well, I don't use Libby. I use Audible. You're paying, yeah, but you're paying for it. Yeah, Libby is like a library, a virtual library. Oh, okay, okay. And it is connected to your own library card. So, I know, you know, I'm Duval County. I didn't understand that. I'm glad you shared that. I'll have to look that up. Oh, it's great, because I also subscribe to Audible, but I don't want, I read so much. I don't want to pay 100 in books, so I have both apps. That's a great idea. Whoa. Okay. know know to know Learn something new Boom. Knowledge bomb dropped. to to know That's pretty cool. Uh, Laura, at the end of these we always kind of reserve this final question. And it's just for you. It's, is there anything else you'd like our listeners to know I, you know, I would say those listening that I am a resource. I'm here. So if anyone hears something or, you know, take something from this podcast today and they want to do a deeper dive or just have a general question, that's what I'm here to be as a resource to anyone, not, not just future clients or current clients, but just to help others. Well, thank you. I'm really grateful for you coming in today. Thank you to the listeners. If you have any questions, please contact us or look for information on our homepage at www. fbmc. com. And, just know that you can learn more about the work Laura is doing at Humana. Laura, just real quick as a plug for you, like, where can they find you? What's the best way? Okay, so, www humana.com. Okay. H-U-M-A-N a.com. Certainly. And my email for anyone who wants it is l nolan, NOLA n@humana.com. And certainly follow me on LinkedIn as well. I was gonna say they could probably look, look you up on LinkedIn. Yeah, absolutely. well thank you to everybody and remember you can find us and subscribe on any podcast app. Thanks and have a great day.