Juno Kids - Risky Benefits Podcast S5E19

n this episode of Risky Benefits, Rick and Kyla interview Jordan Epstein, co-founder and CEO of Juno, about a fast-emerging benefit most employers and employees haven’t encountered: child disability insurance—essentially “long-term disability, but for kids.” Jordan shares his family’s personal experience navigating serious childhood medical issues and explains the massive financial and career impact families face when a child has a severe illness, injury, or lifelong condition.

The conversation breaks down how the coverage works (including triggers, payouts, and support resources), why this protection is common in places like Sweden but historically absent in the U.S., and how brokers and employers can offer it on an employer-paid or voluntary basis.

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

Transcript

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.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 0:16

Hey everyone. Thank you for listening to Risky Benefits, the show where we dig into the wild world of employee benefits, what's working, what's broken, and what's next. Today we're thrilled to have Jordan Epstein, co-founder, and CEO of Juno with us. Juno is a company offering what might be the most important new benefit. You have never heard of child disability insurance. And, without further ado, we'll go ahead and meet Jordan. Jordan, thanks for coming on, man.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 0:48

Rick, thanks for having me.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 0:49

And if you don't mind, just before we get started, why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself. We were kind of chatting for, the podcast started and you, you mentioned you had a family, maybe just tell us a little bit about your yourself, where you're at, and how you got where you are.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 1:02

Awesome. Thank you. Would love to. So, uh, I'm Jordan Epstein. I'm a a father of two kids. I've got a six and a half year old boy named Eli, and a five-year-old daughter named Eden. I've been doing startups for the past 15 years, always trying to help make the world a little bit better. And then for the past decade, trying to help people find affordable care, get access, you know, pro provide support in these moments that really matter.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 1:26

Jordan, do you mind if I ask is, is there like a family scenario that kind of pushed you in that direction or is just something you're passionate about?

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 1:33

Yeah, thanks. Well, this, this current one, definitely, you know, my son Eli, who's now six and a half, when he was much younger, had all kinds of medical issues. And so we were going to the doctor, sometimes three or more times a week, you know, trying to, figure out what was going on. And I remember looking at my wife. And say, you know, if this gets any worse, what are we gonna do? How can we possibly work and take care of our son? And so, the doctors were like, it's gonna get better. It's gonna get better. And I'm like, really? It's 2020. The best you can do. This is a modern science. Right. Is just, you know, tough it out. Right. And so, you know, fortunately for us, when he turned two, kind of, you know, we turned a corner. But you know, for so many families that's not the case. And so when my now co-founder told me about this. You know, benefit this insurance product that they had in Sweden that could support families like mine if something, really, really went wrong. You know, I was like, I tell me more. I'm in.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 2:28

Yeah, me, me too. I, I'm actually super excited to learn more, so, um, so thanks again for coming on.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 2:34

Yeah, definitely.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 2:36

So child disability insurance, I mean, obviously that sounds like a, a very interesting concept. Is this for children with existing disabilities or who, who's really eligible for

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 2:48

Yeah. Yeah, it's a great question. So it's for all families, it's for all families, for anything new that happens. And so, the biggest kind of question is about preexisting conditions, right? Every child, you know, has risk. We're talking about this risky business. These benefit, every child, something can happen, right? And for children with disabilities today, they're even higher risk, right? And so, for example, if a child's born with Down Syndrome, you know, at our highest level, we would pay, a minimum of a hundred thousand dollars in cash directly to a family tax free. Minimum. Right? Um, but if you signed up today or your employer signed up for$5 or$10 or, you know, you can't get a hundred thousand dollars, that's not, that's not how insurance works. But, but, but a child with Down syndrome is five times more likely to get cancer is much more likely to go to the hospital. Anything new that you, that's not directly caused by that, that Down syndrome, you know, we're paying for. Right. And so that's, and we cover all, you know, that we cover the entire family up to age 26. So it's a great question.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 3:47

Okay. No, that's awesome. Thank you. And just kind of want to dig deeper. Into this and really think through it. So, um, try to help. For the listeners that are out there, maybe they haven't had a situation with their child, maybe they don't even have children. Right. Maybe

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 4:04

Yeah.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 4:05

with a broad brush in, in your expertise and kind of with what you're doing here with Juno, try to paint the picture of what the actual need is for, for something like.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 4:17

Yeah, the best way to think about it is it's like long-term disability insurance, but for kids. And so when I say that, if I as a dad, you know, get hit by a car, get injured at work, get cancer, there's all kinds of ways to provide financial support to my family. Long-term disability insurance, short-term disability insurance, SSDI, workers' comp, hopefully great health insurance, but I'm not working. My family needs money. We have these insurance products, we have these government benefits. We're gonna do something for my family, right? Same things happen to my kids. You know, they get hit, hit by a car, they get injured at school, they get cancer. Then the kid specific things, a birth injury or rare disease or a sporting accident and I can't, I can't work, or my wife can't work. We have to hire a caregiver. And all the additional expenses that come with it. There's almost no financial support and it's just devastating for American families. And so in other countries, either the government does this in, in Denmark, for example, if your kid gets cancer, they'll pay a portion of your salary for two years, go be with your kid in the hospital, or in Sweden. Instead there's private insurance, that can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars directly to a family. Um, and more than 90%, nine zero, more than 90% of parents sign up for this coverage. They get it through their employer, they get it on their own, they get through their association, their church, and there's so many ways to get it, but it's viewed as irresponsible not to have. Right. And so my co-founders was born in Sweden, grew up in Iceland. They have it there too. Came to the us, got a master's from Hopkins, PhD from Yale, became a professor of economic study this for five years. And it was like, I wanna bring this to the us. And so my first question to him was, well, how much does it cost? You know, it's obviously worse. I'm thinking be hundreds of thousands of dollars. How much does it cost? And so he told me, in average, in Sweden, it costs$16 a month. And I was like, I will just pay you more. Like I'll round up, this is my biggest fear is dad. My kid had those medical issues and I. A few cousins, with their kids with severe, you know, with autism, right? And so, like, those, those were the things that I was worried about. And you know, my, my life insurance is$60 a month, right? My health insurance is for the family, you know?

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 6:25

Yeah.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 6:25

And so it's like,, why would I take this risk? And, and if you flip it, in another way, if you had this, would you ever take it away? Right? And we just went through our renewals. The answer is no. We have a hundred percent renewal. Everyone who keeps, you know, signs up for this coverage, keeps this coverage. Right. And, and, and we, we can get into it, but like, if this was built into the health plan, like,'cause the, the cost of this is peanuts, right? In, in, in macros, if this was built into the health plan, nobody would blink it on. Right? Just, just the health, you know, like we're willing to spend a hundred thousand dollars or a million dollars, you know, for the, you know, paying the doctors, paying the hospitals, but we're not willing to spend a single dime to support that parent. That's insane.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 7:05

Yeah, actually just looking up. We had a gentleman on our podcast previously. His name was Mark Bertolini, and um, he wrote a book. Which you might actually really appreciate reading because it's, it's really, if you think about it in large part, it's a justification for, for this product, in, in his life experience, he was the CEO of Aetna and then his son comes down with this rare. this rare sickness, he quits his job and devotes quite literally the next, I don't know what it was, call it, two years, three years, helping his son survive. Now he tells the stories of obviously being there in the hospital, in this kid's unit and how, you know, it's just this tragic story of the, so many of these kids not surviving, he ends up going to Europe to find a a, a drug. That wasn't approved in the us, fills out all the paperwork, figures out how to make it available in the us, gets it so that his son can take it. Um, you know, the, the, the probability of it working was minimal. It, anyway, it all works. And his son ends up surviving it's mentioned, it's noted that he stopped working to, to go through this process. Right. And so. that's like a thing, but it's never really talked about. And I think it wasn't talked about as much, obviously, because he had resources. Like he probably had resources that, you know, the, the normal person might not have access to. Um, I mean, it doesn't take away from what he went through, but. Let's just say it was someone else. wouldn't have had the financial ability to, to, to really go and devote themselves to helping their child like that, most likely. that, that never left me. And so that's kind of stayed with me. And, um, so from that perspective, just. Listening to you talk about it, it, it makes what you're bringing to the table much more powerful, people can really put that into perspective. It's like the traditional disability insurance exists so that like if something happens to me and I can no longer work to earn money for my family, it covers me for that. It's almost as if to say it's like a sidestep though, because it's like, well, if my child needs this kind of help and I can't work. this other product exists, but in your traditional, uh, long-term disability, they wouldn't provide me anything because my child is creating that type of a circumstance or the or because the world or my life or whatever, is creating that type of a circumstance. So, you know, for the listeners out there, I mean, pretty cool concept.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 9:37

Th tha Thanks, Rick. Yeah, and, and one of the, I mean, there's lots to unpack there. You know, one of the, many of the, and we've heard so many stories now, our entire team as parents, about half our team has kids with, you know, rare diseases, disabilities, and, and one of the common threads is, you know, we, we are fortunate to be there in the hospital, but when we look around, there's empty chairs. At all the, you know,'cause the parents have to make an impossible choice. Do I keep working or am I there for my kid? Right. And, and how lucky is it for someone to be able to take years off without income

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 10:10

Right.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 10:10

be able to travel to, to Europe, to be able to find these things And, and then, you know, one of the other pieces that I wanted his dad. Was, you know, the cash is super important, right? And it's as a benefit. It's this tax advantage way to, you know, and you, um, you guaranteed issue all these kind of cool insurance things that if we geek out, we can geek out, right? But, um, uh, the other thing I wanted is to have somebody I could call somebody who had gone through this before, could connect me with all the different resources.'cause it's not like there's, there's nothing but every parent has to figure it out on their own. Every parent has to go through Mark's journey by themselves. Right. And that's not right either. And so we, we have somebody that you can call that can help you make a plan that has gone through this before, that, you know, help you make a, a plan for an IEP, special needs trust, uh, qualify for a Medicaid waiver, all all these different things that you're, you're not familiar with as a, you know, as just an, you know, a parent of a child and until all of a sudden you're, you're a parent of a child with severe special needs. Um.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 11:05

That's amazing. So I, you mentioned some of this, but is there anything that you wanna talk about to, and have our listeners know about what, how it actually, you know, how it pays out, what the flexibility looks like? Is there anything specific that we should be aware of?

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 11:20

Yeah, well, there's many important things, but one is we wanted to give parents choice. So what we, uh, and, and what that means for us is two things. One, we don't tell you you need to quit. Right. So you can keep working, your spouse can keep working, you can hire a caregiver. You right, we don't tell you, what you need to do. And the second is we don't tell you what you need to do with the money. Right. We just, it's just cash. And the way that we designed this benefit is the more severe it is, the more we pay you up to 75,000 a year up to the limit that you buy, which is, up to 500,000 a kid, a million dollars per family. But it's, you know, what your employer and what you sign up for, can choose to buy. And in general for permanent disability, which, you know, we, we reviewed with a team of doctors and medical students. You know, 500 rare diseases that affect kids. There are thousands and we, and anything that's severe, you know, we can cover. But of those 500, there was only one where it was even on the menu where a child would, could improve. You know, all, all the rest of these are, you know, lifelong, degenerative, fatal, you know, kind of conditions.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 12:22

Yeah, so conceptually, then you have a list of things that if these things happen to any one of your children, this thing, this policy now kicks in.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 12:34

So there's three core triggers. So trigger one is, uh, we reviewed those 500 conditions for more than 150. Your child has that diagnosis, we're paying you something that something could be the maximum.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 12:45

Okay.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 12:45

It could be that 75,000 year, um, for, for as long as your child has that condition. If it gets worse, we can pay you more closer to that 75,000. And then if your child passes, we pay you for another three months after that. So that's, that's, that's bucket one. Bucket two is your kid's in the hospital for any reason. For a month or more, we pay you$5,000 a month until your kid gets outta the hospital. And then bucket three, and this is the hardest one, and, and likely why this has never been done before in the US is we also can pay you for. As long as it's severe. Long term. And so what does that mean? How do you measure that? We look at five domains. So social, cognitive function, activities of daily living, mobility, caregiving needs, and medical complexity. And then we compare that to children of the same age. Right. So for adults it's, basically, are you working and then should you be working? That's the trigger, right? But for kids, kids don't work. Right. And so, you know, my, my 5-year-old I think is very smart. You know, Eden's wonderful, bright, but compared to a 15-year-old or a 25-year-old, she's disabled,

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 13:47

Right.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 13:48

And so we, we, you have to have a model that can evaluate disability at every age of child. And so we built that as well. And so that way, for example, one of the women on on our team has, has a son, that there are 13 other kids in the world with her son's genetic disorder. We would pay her if she had the highest level of coverage,$300,000 tax free.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 14:10

Wow. I mean, life altering stuff.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 14:15

You know, 87% of these families live in financial hardship. You know, nine times outta 10, you know, it's, mom is stepping back. It's either, you know, quit or, you know, part-time to take care of a, a kid. It's not. The rate of divorce is five times. Families lose their houses. It is exactly like if your house burned down, but you didn't have insurance. You didn't have. Right. And, and you know that, that's like require everybody has. Right. And then this thing that is similar in magnitude, you know, can cost a family a million, more than a million dollars out of pocket. We don't have insurance for it. We have insurance for pets. You can buy alien abduction insurance. I kid you not, you could buy alien abduction insurance, but you could not buy this product until we brought it to America.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 14:56

And how long have you guys been around?

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 14:59

It took us four years to get to the start line. So for four years it was the professor and me and a bunch of, insurance companies, ai, A IG is a partner. Hanover Re is a partner. We have some of the biggest. Insurance companies in the world behind this and not one of them would take the full risk. It's like a syndicated, because per 2000 kids is a potential billion dollars in liability. That of which there's no experience data for the us we're building it. Right. We have all these models. My co-founder has done all this actuarial work. Right. This time last year we had two clients. We're gonna have more than a hundred starting one, one in a few weeks. So it's really exciting. Yeah.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 15:36

That's amazing. Yeah, and I, I mean, I, we had a question in here from a broker employer perspective, why would a company wanna offer Geno? But I think it's pretty, I mean, that's, doesn't it, it doesn't need to be asked. I mean, it's pretty basic based on. Uh, what we've already gone over. I mean, it sounds great. I guess one of the biggest questions I would have is, is how does a broker or an employer access it would probably be what I would ask. I mean, how do you get your hands on the product? Do you sell it on a group basis? Do you sell it on an individual basis? You know, what's the model?

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 16:10

Yeah, so yeah, from a gap perspective, it's a clear gap. For 95, percent of the brokers and the, employers we talked to, they get it. And then it's like, how do we do it? How do you know, how do we access this thing? And that, that was one of the big things that we've done is, it can cost the family, more than a million dollars. We wanted to sell the million dollar policy. Right. You know, employers cover everyone, it costs 2020$5. PPN. No employer has ever bought that. Right. And so then instead of, we said, if you see that there's a gap, just tell us what you wanna pay. And we'll design a policy that meets your budget. Right? Um, and so, and by the way, it's okay if you have no budget. We'll do it on a voluntary BA basis. And so since we've done that, we signed a Fortune 500 company, fortune two 50 company in 13 days. We met with their head of benefits. 13 days later they signed. I've never heard of that. Right? And so it's, you know, but it is very much like how do we remove friction? How do we make it easy to say yes? And then how, on a voluntary basis, how do we partner to, market, communicate this great new thing that basically, you know, all, all families should at least have the choice to know about, should, you know, think about, you know, adding this coverage. And if we do, if we do a good job on that partnership, on the first bite at the Apple, we have some groups that have 30% of parents say no. For something you've never heard of. That's, you know, in comparison, you a typical for, for pet insurance is 1%, right?

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 17:39

Jordan, are there things like, I'm just thinking through scenarios in my head and I'll just throw one out at you, but like, let's say you've got a married couple, right? And they're gonna have a child, so they're going through a change in status process and at that point there's an opportunity for them to, you know, modify benefits and they're like, Hey. my employer offers this dis child disability coverage. I'd like to pick this up, and then they pick it up. And then as this child's developing, let's say they find out they have like autism to a large degree. that something that falls in a plan like this or not? Not particularly.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 18:16

if you get coverage from the beginning, there's no preexisting conditions. Certainly if you're thinking about having a family, you know, and we say it in our, we encourage you to sign up, you know, it's, it's exactly the protection that I wanted. It's. That's that

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 18:29

Yeah.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 18:30

I think everyone should have

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 18:32

I'm just curious actually, and just, this isn't one of the questions we had for you, but just talking with you, just kind of made this pop up in my mind. It's like, now you've been through the process right. Of, of, of building this. So, you know, the complexity of getting it done, getting it here to America. why do you

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 18:52

it. It

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 18:52

insurance companies didn't do it?

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 18:55

they have tried.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 18:57

Okay.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 18:57

They have tried. A IG tried, there's a group in Florida that had tried, I think Aflac has tried. Um, and, and to be honest, they're all reaching out to us now to partner, right? And so, uh, and, and it's kind of three, it's three things. So one is, um, the data is incredibly complicated. Again, there's that 7,000 rare diseases. How do you price, how do you model? And then, you know, how do you underwrite? You know, both on a group basis, on a voluntary basis, how do, how do you design a policy where you don't lose your, lose your lunch,

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 19:29

Right.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 19:29

Right? As an insurance company. The second is going back to that, especially that third trigger is how do you adjudicate a claim? Right? Where, you know, these kids don't have one condition, they have nine. Right. And so how do you fairly adjudicate that? And especially, you know, when none of them are those list of 150 plus. Right. You know, and so that's, and many, many conditions are on a spectrum. Um, you know, autism, cerebral palsy, there's different, you know, so it's, there's lots of things that it's like, oh, okay, I think I understand. But the dabbs in the details and the details are really complicated. Right. And then the third one is also. Continues to be exceptionally, challenging is on the regulatory side. I can go deep on this if you want,, there's this insane fiction that, in our country that insurance is not interstate commerce, right? And so, uh, that, that started in the 1870s with a Supreme Court precedent. The, the Supreme Court in the eight 1940s actually reversed it and said, of course, it's, um, you know, interstate commerce, which means that the federal government should regulate it. And then, uh, in 1945, they passed the McCarran Ferguson Act that says, we're too far in, we're gonna give it back to the states. Right. And so basically we have 50 different countries of insurance laws. But, but wait, there's more. But then the federal government has said, but for some things, we're still gonna regulate.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 20:49

Right.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 20:49

So we have 50 different, you know, sets of laws plus federal law that you have to fi, you know, um, and then, you know, you have the laws, and then you have case law, right? So for any particular, you know, oh, we wanna insure a PEO, we wanna insure a church, we wanna ensure a tribal nation. These are the, these are the things, these are real, right? We wanna ensure employees in other countries. We wanna ensure expats. We want like all these novel questions, you know, for a benefit that's never existed before on a unique regulatory pathway. It is. We've, we've paid hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to lawyers, you know, and, and it's, um, and all of this is, if you're wrong, it's a felony, right? It's not like, oh, it's a slap on the wrist, right? It is like you go to jail,

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 21:31

Right.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 21:31

you know, and so it's, you know, insurance companies are risk averse, right? So you have this incredibly complicated regulatory, incredibly complicated, adjudication and, and again, um. These are for the most sensitive topics. Like these are ki kid, and these parents are fighting, they want, they need help.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 21:50

Yeah.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 21:50

Right? And there is a line, there's a line and there's always gonna be a family right on the next side of that line. Right. So how can you fairly, justly in an non-discriminatory pro, like, you know, get, wrap your head around, around that too. Right.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 22:04

Yeah.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 22:04

And so for all of that complexity, it's cost us, you know, eight figures to get to where we are, right? It would cost any other insurance company more than that, right? To get to where we are. And, and so for a thing that, I think every family should have access to this, you know, and then hopefully, eventually it's like life insurance or disability insurance where it's, you know, 30 to 60% of families have this kind of coverage, which means it's an enormous market, right? You know, it's this incredible tax efficient way to get money to your people when they need it most. Right? One of my employees, you know, kids has cancer. Let's say, okay, I know what to do there. But the, you know, if they have this thousandth rare disease, what do I do? How do I fairly adjudicate? Like how, you know? So anyway, that was a very long-winded answer too. Um, why has this never been done before?

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 22:53

Well, thank you. And, uh, just another off the cuff question. So you said that the, that children most likely to get cancer are those newborns? Zero. Um, so

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 23:04

Yeah.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 23:05

an ideal, like when you're targeting parents or potential parents, is there an ideal age range or just anyone up to 26? This would be fantastic for anyone and everyone.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 23:16

Yeah, I, if you have a child under 26, you should sign up for this coverage.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 23:21

Yeah.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 23:21

Right. You

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 23:22

Mm-hmm. And J

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 23:22

if you have a large family, you should sign up for this coverage. If you have young kids, you should sign up for this coverage. If your kids play, you know, sports, you know, or are prone to accidents, you should so ba. Basically, it's every family, you know. It's like if you have kids, you should sign up for this coverage.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 23:36

Jordan, what states is this license? Are you guys licensed in.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 23:40

We're licensed in all states. We can cover members in all states. We can issue policies in about 40 states. And so there's a little bit of trickiness there. But in general, we have members today in every state and DC except for Rhode Island, and that's just random. You know, we can cover people in Rhode Island. Yeah.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 23:58

Okay. a lot of people there.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 24:00

I think, I think that's more of it.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 24:04

Awesome. Yeah. Um, okay, so I guess we'll get into the lightning round. Alright. So you ready?

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 24:12

Okay. Yeah. Hit me.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 24:14

so, uh, okay. Biggest misconception employers have about childhood disability.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 24:20

the head of benefits for, Microsoft was at a conference with us where, a mom with a child with a rare disease, came on stage and explained, what happened to her family, and how, she had to take time off of work and how her husband has never told his employer.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 24:35

Oh wow.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 24:37

And so we have survey data that says, of parents with children with, you know, rare disease, significant disabilities, you know, would you be comfortable telling your employer about this? More than half say yes. Next question. Have you told your employer less than 10? You know, if you go look in your health records, you can see all the kids, with, cystic fibrosis, with cancer, with Duchenne, with muscular dystrophy, all these different things. Um, but you don't hear it. And you don't hear it because parents are scared.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 25:07

Mm-hmm.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 25:08

You know, you tell your employer like, what will, will I get fired? Will I get, you know, will I not be promoted? And that's also in the data by the way, you know? Parent parents with children, especially mothers with children with disabilities, are half as likely to become, you know, senior executives. You know? So it's, it's both a, it's a fear. It's justified. And so then it's, you know, as an employer, you know, you know, anecdotally, oh, I had a cousin, I had a friend, I, you know, did a GoFundMe.'cause that's, by the way, what hap you know, is, that's the state of the art, is, you know, people have to go to charity, right?

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 25:43

Yeah.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 25:43

Because there is a, this insurance. That's the biggest misconception is, oh, I haven't heard of this, therefore it doesn't happen. Right? Or it's not important. No, no, no one is asking me for this. And it's like, well, of course no one asks you for a benefit that doesn't, you know, that doesn't exist. But on the flip side, I, I gave another talk recently, and another, head of benefits from Genentech. You know, spoke, you know, everyone else kind of spoke and then shared, you know, a dozen times a year, a mom comes in and tells me what, what's her situation, what's happened? And we just cry together. Like, I can't do anything. There's nothing I can do. Right? And so it's, you know, these things happen. They happen every day and they matter. And it's, and, and for either no dollars or a few dollars, you could change somebody's life. Like how powerful is that?

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 26:33

No. Super good stuff, man. So, uh, next, next question on the lightning round list, most surprising thing brokers say when they first hear about Juno.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 26:43

great question. And, I'm getting long-winded, so this is not very, the lightning part is not, but, but, but it actually,

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 26:51

It's, it's important stuff though. So

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 26:53

yeah. Thank you. Yeah. So, um. It is exactly what, you know, why has no one done this before? If,

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 27:01

question. Like why haven't the carriers done it? Yeah.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 27:04

yeah. Well, and they're, and they're starting to, they want to, so, we're working on a partnership with one of the largest disability carriers in the country. A few of the, critical illness, carriers ha have added a kind of child rider that can, cover 20 things, you know, and pay$5,000 or 20,000. You know, it's good. There's only so much you can do with kind of that chassis. But, but there is growing, growing recognition that this is an issue. Um, and again, it goes back to those three things that, you know, ultimately there is so much complexity here that you know, you need a senior executive in an eight figure budget, you know, to be able to get to the start line for an uncertain outcome, right? And like, what, what senior executive is gonna spend four years, you know, risk their career. Not have a result. You know, it's just not a, I mean, that's just corporate America. Um,

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 27:52

Yeah. I, this one kind of seems obvious, but one thing parents wish their employer offered, but usually doesn't.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 28:03

child disability,

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 28:06

That's funny. Finish the sentence. The future of employee benefits is.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 28:12

I think is flexible benefits. Right. With me, you know, medical inflation with what it is, right? Just, it's more and more it's like how can employers build tailored benefits that are tax advantage that you can, uh, you know, give employees what they want, you know, when they need it. Right? And I think that's, um, you know, it's choice, it's access. Uh, you know, I think there are, we, we do have many employers that pay for all of it or pay for some of it. Um, but, you know, I think that's where, I mean, I, I, I, I don't see this. You know, it is kind of a runaway train, you know, 10, 10% every year, every year. You know, it is just sometimes at some point it catches up and, um, and anyway, so that's what we've seen in the market.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 28:55

I appreciate it, man. we generally reserve kind of a final question for the guest and it's really just a throwback to you. Obviously, we kind of had this list of things we wanted to ask and share with the listeners, but really it comes down to the question of, is there anything else you'd like our listeners to know?

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 29:14

Yeah, thanks for asking. Uh, I, you know, hopefully if you've, you know, if what you've heard resonates with you and you think there's a gap and you want to do something, then just reach out. You know, my email isJordan@junokids.com. Um, you know, you can talk to Rick or Kyla too, you know, but, um, and, and get in contact with us. But, you know, we, we can't make a difference unless, unless you help us, right? And we want, we wanna help support your employees and your organization. So, um, I hope we get the chance to.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 29:43

Yeah, so I mean it obviously people listen to this. Um, we'll spread the word on it. There's gonna be a lot of people who are interested. Um, it, do you have a website or is there a place people can go just to learn more? Okay.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 29:56

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So, uh, juno kids.com, um, and then you can send a note also to Hello at Juno Kids. And, and there's a contact form as well. And so we, you know, we pick it out all up. We're on LinkedIn, you know, there's many ways to find us. Ask your broker. We work with many of the top brokerages in the country. Many of them are actually our clients as well. MMA Alliance, Sequoia. So I, you know, this, this thing is happening, you know, it's, it's the beginning of a movement and I hope, you know, in five or 10 years, this is a standard coverage for families in America. Go.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 30:27

I'd love to help you with that, Jordan, and thanks for coming on today. Uh, re really grateful a that you had the passion for this. And you know, it's funny, you, you hear about people starting their own businesses and it's like so many great ideas are out there, right? But it's, it takes somebody actually latching onto that idea and making something happen. You did that. I just wanna thank you for that. And obviously I want you to be successful. So thank you.

jordan_1_12-10-2025_100841: 30:51

Yeah. Thank, thank you both, both. It, it, uh, you know, it's a journey. It's a journey and, and it's an important one. And so we're, we're proud and, um, we're proud to be on it. But also it, it, it is not easy if any of this sounded easy, that it is not.

marketing_1_12-10-2025_130842: 31:06

Awesome. Well, thanks Jordan and thank you to all the listeners out there. If any of you have any questions, please contact us or look for information on our homepage@www.fbmc.com. And remember, listen and subscribe on any podcast app. Thanks and have a great day.