Marty Levy

It’s Not Insurance. It’s a Guarantee That You Won’t Become a Burden.

Let me ask you something personal. Not about money. Not about insurance. Just a simple question:

“If you needed help — real help, day-to-day care — would you want your kids dropping everything to provide it?”

Almost everyone answers the same way: No. Absolutely not. That is the last thing I would want.

And yet, most people have done nothing to prevent exactly that from happening.

That’s the conversation we want to have with you today. Not the one about statistics or premium rates or actuarial tables. The one about why we don’t plan for something we already know is coming.

The Word “Insurance” Is Ruining the Conversation

Here’s something to consider:  if long-term care planning were called anything other than insurance, everyone would want it.

Call it a Care Fund. A Longevity Guarantee. A Family Protection Account. Whatever you like — the moment people understand what it actually does, they’re in. The resistance isn’t to the concept. The resistance is to the word.

Insurance, as a category, carries baggage. We pay for car insurance and hope we never use it. We buy homeowner’s insurance and quietly resent the premium every year when the house doesn’t burn down. Insurance, in our minds, is a bet against ourselves. We pay in. We hope we lose.

Long-term care planning is fundamentally different — and I mean that in a structural, contractual, guaranteed way — but because it wears the same label, people tune it out before the conversation even starts.

The obstacle isn’t logic. It’s psychology.

Here’s the Reality Nobody Wants to Sit With

Almost nobody dies suddenly anymore. Modern medicine has gotten remarkably good at keeping us alive. What it hasn’t solved is what happens in the years — sometimes many years — before the end. Strokes leave people needing daily assistance. Dementia progresses slowly, and the person you love is still there but unable to manage alone. Falls, surgeries, chronic illness — they create care needs that don’t resolve in a few weeks.

Most of us will go through a period where we need meaningful help. It won’t be brief. And it won’t be free.

The question isn’t really IF you’ll need care. The question is who’s going to provide it — and what it’s going to cost them.

What “Family Handles It” Actually Looks Like

When there’s no plan, families step in. That sounds loving, because it is. But let’s be honest about what it means in practice.

It usually means a daughter — statistically it’s almost always a daughter — reducing her hours at work, or leaving her job entirely. It means her retirement savings slow down or stop. It means her marriage is under strain. It means her kids watch her sacrifice and wonder, quietly, if this is what’s coming for them too.

It means your son, who has his own family and his own demands, is suddenly navigating care facilities, insurance calls, and medication schedules between work meetings. It means family gatherings start to carry weight they were never supposed to carry.

None of this happens because anyone failed. It happens because there was no plan.

“I don’t want to be a burden” is the most common thing I hear. But it only matters if you act on it before it’s too late.”

So Why Don’t People Plan?

We’ve had hundreds of these conversations. The resistance almost always comes down to one of three things:

First, denial. It’s genuinely hard to picture yourself needing help getting dressed or remembering your grandchildren’s names. The future version of you who needs care doesn’t feel real yet. Planning for that person requires imagining something most of us actively avoid.

Second, avoidance. Dealing with insurance feels like a chore. It’s complicated. It requires paperwork, medical questions, and decisions you’d rather not make today. The path of least resistance is to put it off — and then put it off again.

Third, and this one is quieter: we associate needing care with the end of life, and we don’t want to go there mentally. Planning for long-term care feels like planning for decline, and nobody wants to spend an afternoon doing that.

But here’s what we want you to consider: the planning doesn’t make the decline more likely. It just means that if it happens, it doesn’t also become a financial and emotional catastrophe for everyone you love.

What the Planning Actually Does

When someone has a proper long-term care strategy in place, here’s what changes:

You get to choose where you receive care. Your home. A facility you actually like. Not whatever Medicaid will cover. That choice — and the dignity it represents — is what the planning buys.

Your children get to be your children, not your case managers. They show up because they love you, not because they have no other option.

Your savings stay intact. A serious care event without coverage can deplete a lifetime of savings in two or three years. With a plan, that doesn’t happen.

And here’s the part people don’t expect: with the right structure, you can’t lose. If you need care, the policy pays out. If you never need care, there’s a death benefit for your heirs. If you change your mind, you can walk away with your money back. Those are the three possible futures — and all three of them work out.

“You can’t lose” is not a sales pitch. With the right plan, it is literally the contract.

The One Catch

There is one thing that can take this option off the table permanently: your health.

Long-term care planning requires medical underwriting. If you’re healthy today, you qualify. If you wait until a diagnosis comes — and they always come eventually — the window closes. Not narrows. Closes.

This is the part I want you to take seriously. Not because we’re trying to create urgency artificially. But because I’ve had to have the harder conversation too many times — the one where someone calls me six months after they should have, and the opportunity is gone.

This Isn’t a Hard Conversation. It’s a 30-Minute One.

If anything here resonated — if you thought of a parent, or yourself, or a spouse — that’s the signal. Not to panic. Just to take the next step.

A conversation with us costs nothing. We ‘ll show you exactly what your exposure looks like in real numbers, and what a strategy would cost to fix it. No pressure. No commitment.

The only regret we ever hear in this business is from people who waited too long. You don’t have to be one of them.

Stop Paying Full Price for Healthcare

The IRS has built tools to help. Most people and many employers aren’t using them.

Whether you’re a business owner trying to do more for your team, or a professional paying too much out of pocket for care your insurance barely touches there are legitimate, IRS-approved ways to make your healthcare dollars go further.

Here’s the short version.

If You’re an Employee or Self-Employed Professional

Health Savings Account (HSA) — The one most people underuse. If you’re enrolled in a high-deductible health plan, you can contribute pre-tax dollars to an HSA and spend them tax-free on medical expenses. The money rolls over every year and can be invested. It’s the only account in the tax code with three tax breaks: deduction going in, tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawals for medical costs.

2025 limits: $4,300 individual / $8,550 family. If you’re 55+, add $1,000 more.

Flexible Spending Account (FSA) — If your employer offers one, you set aside pre-tax dollars each year to cover predictable expenses: copays, prescriptions, dental, vision, and more. Simple, automatic, and an immediate tax discount on spending you’re already doing. And, you don’t have to fund this account all at once, or in entirety.

What both accounts cover that surprises most people: out-of-network charges, specialty medications, chiropractic care, hearing aids, LASIK, orthodontia, and more all eligible expenses under IRS Section 213. Want to deduct more out of pocket expenses, this is a great tool.

If You’re a Business Owner or Employer

Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) — Employers fund this; employees spend it tax-free. No premiums, no network. You reimburse employees for qualifying medical expenses, take the deduction, and they receive the benefit free of income and payroll taxes.

Executive Medical Reimbursement Plan — This is the one almost nobody talks about – and most CPA’s are surprised still exist. A business can select specific employees even just one and cover virtually all of their out-of-pocket medical expenses through a supplemental reimbursement plan. The employer deducts it. The employee receives it tax-free. No payroll taxes on either side.

What makes it especially powerful: it bypasses the 7.5% of income floor that limits personal medical deductions on individual tax returns. Dollar one is tax-advantaged. And unlike standard group health benefits, this type of plan can legally be offered to a select group a key executive, a partner, or a top performer without extending it company-wide.

Covered expenses include essentially everything the primary plan doesn’t: deductibles, copays, out-of-network bills, dental, vision, hearing, chiropractic, specialty drugs, psychiatric care, and more.

One provider we work with, BeniComp Select, has offered this since 1962. Pricing is transparent: $350/year per participant, then claims plus 12%. No monthly premiums. No renewal increases. You pay for what you use.

The Bottom Line

Most people leave these benefits unused not because they’re complicated, but because nobody put them on the radar. A quick review of your current benefit structure can reveal real tax savings and real coverage gaps worth closing.

The Rise of Lifestyle Benefits: Why Platforms Like JOON Are Changing Employee Benefits

For decades, employee benefits followed a predictable formula: health insurance, dental, vision, maybe a 401(k), and a few fringe perks.

But today’s workforce is different and their expectations are evolving faster than traditional benefits programs can keep up.

Employers are now competing not just on salary, but on quality of life. Workers want benefits that actually impact their daily lives: wellness, family support, mental health resources, personal development, and flexibility.

That’s where a new category of benefits platforms like JOON is gaining traction.

What Is JOON?

JOON is a flexible lifestyle benefits platform that allows employers to provide employees with personalized wellness and lifestyle benefits through a reimbursement model. Instead of offering one-size-fits-all perks, companies can give employees a monthly allowance that can be used across categories such as fitness, education, family care, or mental health. (Capterra)

Here’s what makes the model different.

Employees simply connect their personal credit or debit card to the platform, make eligible purchases, and the system automatically verifies and reimburses them no paperwork or complicated claims required. (JOON)

The result is a benefits experience that feels more like everyday life than traditional HR administration.

Why Employers Are Paying Attention

One of the biggest challenges employers face is benefit utilization.

Companies spend significant money on programs that employees either don’t understand or rarely use.

Platforms like JOON flip that equation.

With a reimbursement-based structure, employers only pay for benefits that employees actually use, rather than distributing stipends that may or may not serve their intended purpose. (JOON)

That creates a powerful feedback loop:

  • Employees choose benefits that matter to them
  • Employers fund only real usage
  • Engagement increases
  • Retention improves

For employers trying to make benefits dollars work harder, that’s an appealing model.

Benefits That Reflect Real Life

Traditional benefits programs tend to reflect what employers think employees need.

Lifestyle benefits reflect what employees actually want.

Through platforms like JOON, employers can create categories such as:

  • Fitness and wellness
  • Mental health support
  • Professional development
  • Healthy food and nutrition
  • Family and childcare
  • Commuting or transportation
  • Pet care
  • Continuing education

This flexibility is important because today’s workforce spans multiple generations, lifestyles, and priorities. One employee may value a gym membership while another prefers childcare support or online learning.

Lifestyle benefits allow both to feel supported without forcing employers to manage dozens of separate programs.

A Simpler Experience for HR

Another advantage is administrative efficiency.

Traditional reimbursement programs often require HR teams to manually review receipts, answer employee questions, and track eligibility.

Modern benefits platforms automate much of that work by integrating with payroll and HR systems and automatically categorizing eligible purchases. (Forma)

In many cases, HR teams can manage the entire program with minimal monthly oversight.

Why This Matters for Recruitment and Retention

The competition for talent has shifted dramatically over the past decade.

Today’s employees increasingly evaluate companies based on culture, flexibility, and lifestyle support, not just compensation.

Lifestyle spending accounts and flexible benefits are becoming an important tool for employers trying to:

  • attract talent
  • improve engagement
  • support employee wellbeing
  • differentiate themselves from competitors

Companies using flexible lifestyle benefit platforms report significantly higher participation rates compared with traditional point-solution benefits. (Justworks)

That’s because employees see these benefits as personal, flexible, and meaningful.

The Bigger Trend

The emergence of platforms like JOON reflects a broader shift happening across employee benefits.

Benefits are moving away from rigid, one-size-fits-all programs and toward personalized experiences that support the whole person.

Employers who adapt to this shift are more likely to create workplaces where employees feel supported, valued, and engaged.

And in a labor market where talent has choices, that can make all the difference.

Catastrophic Health Insurance: The “Cheap Premium” Fix or a Cost Shift in Disguise?

Everyone’s hunting for the same thing right now: a way to stop health insurance costs from climbing.

One idea getting renewed attention in Washington is expanding access to catastrophic health insurance plans for individuals plans with lower monthly premiums but very high deductibles. The appeal is obvious: if more people buy leaner coverage, premiums can look cheaper on paper. But there’s a tradeoff that’s easy to miss:

Catastrophic coverage doesn’t eliminate healthcare costs. What changes-  who pays and when they pay?

What is “catastrophic” coverage, really?

A catastrophic plan is designed to protect you from financial ruin if something truly big happens think hospitalization, major surgery, cancer treatment, etc.

But until you hit the deductible, you’re mostly on your own.

Under ACA catastrophic plans, coverage typically doesn’t kick in until you reach the annual cost-sharing limit, though you typically do get Wellness covered before the deductible.

And those deductibles are not small. For 2026, reporting indicates catastrophic deductibles around $10,600 for an individual and $21,200 for a household.

What’s changing now: expanding access

Federal guidance announced in September 2025 broadened the ability for some people to qualify for a hardship exemption, which can open the door to catastrophic plan enrollment in 2026 especially for people who are not eligible for Marketplace subsidies based on income.

Also on the national radar: a proposed rule package for 2027 includes additional Marketplace changes and again highlights catastrophic plans as a lower-premium option, with a public comment window running into March 2026.

Why catastrophic plans will be cheaper

Premiums are largely driven by what the plan is expected to pay. So if a plan pays less—because the member pays more upfront the premium can drop. That’s the “math” behind why catastrophic plans are back in the conversation.

And yes, for someone who is healthy, has savings, and rarely uses care, that lower premium can feel like a win.

The part that matters: the cost shift is real

Here’s the core issue: serious claims are not rare and they are getting more intense.

National spending is extremely concentrated in a relatively small share of people each year:

  • In 2022, the top 5% of people accounted for about half of total healthcare spending.
  • The top 1% accounted for about 21.7% of total spending.

That means it’s not “one in a hundred” people driving the bulk of costs. It’s more like five in a hundred driving about half of all costs in a given year before we even get into how many more people have meaningful (but not top-5%) expenses.

And in employer plan data, the severity story is similar:

  • One report notes ~1% of members exceeding $100,000 in annual claims yet accounting for ~33% of total spend.
  • Another employer-market resource points to $1M+ claims increasing sharply over recent years.

So when we talk about “catastrophic,” we’re not talking about lightning strikes only. We’re talking about a healthcare environment where high-cost episodes and chronic, ongoing needs are a meaningful part of the risk pool.

Why this could reduce premiums… and increase financial stress

Catastrophic plans can reduce premiums in two ways:

  1. Cost sharing shifts to the patient (high deductibles and out-of-pocket exposure).
  2. Healthier people may gravitate to them, which can change the mix of who’s left in richer plans.

But those “savings” don’t necessarily mean the system got cheaper. Often it means:

  • more people delaying care because they can’t afford the deductible
  • higher bad debt / payment plans / financial strain
  • more surprise when a family hits a $10k–$20k out-of-pocket year

In other words: lower premiums, higher “risk of a bad year.”

Conclusion:

Catastrophic health insurance may lower the monthly premium but it doesn’t lower the underlying cost of care. It simply shifts more of the financial responsibility to the individual at the moment they need care most. And in a healthcare environment where high-cost claims are no longer rare outliers but a growing reality, that shift matters.

Is It Health Insurance — Or Is It a Farce?

Cost-Sharing Programs vs. Real Insurance

As Affordable Care Act subsidies expire and premiums jump for millions of Americans, the health insurance marketplace is quietly shifting in a dangerous direction.

People aren’t just shopping for better plans.

Many are abandoning real insurance altogether.

Faced with dramatic premium increases, families are turning to “alternatives” like Medi-Share, Christian Health Ministries, and other medical cost-sharing programs. These options are marketed as affordable, community-based solutions that look and feel like insurance.

But they are not insurance.

And in many cases, they do not protect families when it matters most.

The Illusion of Coverage

Cost-sharing programs operate outside state insurance regulation. They are not legally required to pay claims, cap out-of-pocket costs, or guarantee coverage for serious illness.

They can:

  • Decline claims
  • Limit reimbursements
  • Change rules mid-stream
  • Set internal caps without regulatory oversight

When care is routine, the system may appear to work.

But healthcare is not routine.

When someone faces cancer, transplants, neonatal care, or trauma — claims in the hundreds of thousands or millions — there is no insurance company standing behind that promise. There is only a pool of other participants and a committee deciding what they are willing to share.

That is not protection.

That is hope.

The Real Financial Risk

The danger isn’t medical access. It’s financial collapse.

When catastrophic illness meets inadequate coverage:

  • Savings disappear
  • Retirement accounts are liquidated
  • Home equity is tapped
  • Homes are sold
  • Long-term security is permanently damaged

Not because care was unavailable.

But because people believed they were insured — when they were not.

This is how decades of financial stability can vanish with a single diagnosis.

Why This Is Happening Now

Enhanced ACA subsidies temporarily hid the true cost of health insurance. For several years, many middle-income families paid artificially low premiums.

Now those subsidies are expiring.

Premiums are resetting to real prices.

And millions are experiencing shock.

The system did not prepare consumers for this transition. So they do what people always do when prices rise — they look for cheaper substitutes.

Even if the substitute does not truly work.

The Negotiation Myth

Cost-sharing programs often claim they “negotiate” medical bills like insurers.

They do not.

Insurance carriers have contracted networks, negotiated rates, legal standing, and regulatory oversight. Cost-sharing programs rely largely on provider goodwill, cash discounts, and informal negotiations.

In major hospital systems, that difference is not small.

It is the difference between protection and exposure.

A System Under Strain

As more healthy people exit real insurance, risk pools weaken. Premiums rise further. More people leave.

This cycle threatens the stability of the entire market.

At the same time, more families are walking into catastrophic financial risk without realizing it.

Final Thought

Health insurance exists for one reason:

To protect families from financial disaster when health fails.

When programs offer the illusion of protection instead of real protection, the consequences are not  theoretical – people find a way to pay for everything that is important for them and this is unfortunately something we will all have to continue to navigate and manage until a better alternative comes along.

Will ChatGPT Be Your Next Internist Physician?

A few years ago, if someone told you that artificial intelligence would be helping people interpret lab work, prepare for doctor visits, and even guide them toward treatment options, it would have sounded like science fiction. Today, it’s quietly becoming part of everyday healthcare.

With OpenAI’s recent move into healthcare through what’s now being called ChatGPT Health, the question isn’t whether AI will influence medicine — it already is. The more interesting question is how far it goes, and what role it plays alongside real physicians.

What’s Actually Changing

Healthcare has always struggled with one major problem: information overload with very little clarity. Patients receive test results, notes, portals, summaries, and instructions — often without context or explanation. Most people leave doctor visits remembering only a fraction of what was discussed.

AI tools like ChatGPT are stepping into that gap.

The idea behind ChatGPT Health isn’t to diagnose or replace doctors. It’s to help people make sense of their health information — lab trends, medication questions, symptoms, and even what questions they should be asking next. Think of it less as a doctor and more as a highly organized, always-available health translator.

That distinction matters.

Why This Feels Different Than “Dr. Google”

We’ve all Googled symptoms. That usually leads to anxiety, confusion, or worst-case scenarios. AI is different because it can be contextual. It remembers what you’ve shared, recognizes patterns, and frames information in plain language — not alarmist headlines.

For many people, this becomes a way to prepare for a visit rather than replace one. Better questions. Better understanding. Better engagement.

And that alone is a meaningful shift.

Telehealth Has Already Normalized This Behavior

At the same time AI is evolving, telehealth has quietly changed how people access care.

Companies like Amazon One Medical now offer on-demand virtual visits for common conditions — including things like UTIs, sinus infections, pink eye, anxiety, and routine prescription needs. You describe symptoms, interact with a licensed clinician, and in many cases a prescription is sent directly to a pharmacy without stepping into an office.

For straightforward, episodic issues, this model works — and consumers have embraced it.

What’s important is recognizing the direction of travel:
People are already comfortable getting healthcare guidance digitally.

AI simply becomes the front door — helping people decide when they need care, what kind of care they need, and how urgent the situation actually is.

So… Is ChatGPT Your Next Internist?

Not exactly — and that’s the wrong way to frame it.

AI isn’t replacing internists any time soon. It doesn’t examine you. It doesn’t order imaging. It doesn’t make judgment calls in complex or ambiguous cases. And it shouldn’t.

What it does do is something medicine has struggled with for decades:
give people time, clarity, and continuity.

  • Time to think through symptoms
  • Clarity around confusing medical language
  • Continuity between visits, test results, and lifestyle data

That makes patients better informed — and frankly, better partners in their own care.

The More Likely Future

The future of healthcare isn’t AI versus doctors. It’s AI supporting both patients and clinicians.

  • Patients show up better prepared
  • Physicians spend less time explaining basics and more time treating
  • Telehealth handles routine care efficiently
  • In-person medicine focuses on what truly requires human judgment

In that model, AI doesn’t replace the internist — it acts more like a clinical assistant, educator, and guide that never gets tired.

And for a system under pressure from cost, access issues, and burnout, that may be exactly what healthcare needs.

The real takeaway isn’t whether ChatGPT becomes your doctor.
It’s that healthcare is finally starting to meet people where they already are — informed, digital, and looking for clarity.