How Do You Stay Authentic And Creative In Insurance? (with Luke Aslesen)

This podcast explores the intersection of entrepreneurship, creativity, and the traditionally "pale, male, and stale" insurance industry, focusing on the critical need for improved healthcare literacy and employee benefits engagement. The conversation features Luke Aslesen, founder of INFRMD, an insurance education platform, who argues that the industry must adopt modern communication methods, humor, and authenticity to break through employee apathy and distrust. The core thesis is that despite massive employer spending on benefits, poor communication leads to zero cultural or financial return on investment (ROI), necessitating a creative overhaul in how complex healthcare information is delivered to the end-user.

The speakers delve into the systemic failure of annual open enrollment meetings, noting that employees typically tune out complex information and focus only on the bottom-line cost. This lack of understanding is quantified by a staggering statistic: only 9% to 11% of people understand their benefits (co-pays, deductibles, co-insurance). Luke emphasizes that the solution is not merely repackaging the same dry content but fundamentally changing the medium and frequency of delivery. INFRMD addresses this by creating short, 90-second, jargon-free video content delivered through a Netflix-style platform, designed for a "slow drip" education system throughout the year, rather than a single annual information dump.

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the high cost of healthcare and the resulting tension between employers and employees. The speakers highlight that the average family premium is around $25,000 annually, equating to the cost of a new car every year, yet most employees are unaware of the employer's contribution and the overall expense. This financial strain, coupled with a lack of trust in a system perceived as "designed to make as much money off of you as possible," drives apathy. The solution proposed is radical transparency—telling the truth about how the system works—and leveraging creativity and humor (like the use of social media and sketch comedy) to win the "hearts and minds" of the consumer, thereby empowering them to make informed decisions that reduce unnecessary utilization (e.g., avoiding the ER for urgent care). The ultimate goal is to shift the focus from elusive fiscal ROI to measurable cultural ROI, fostering a sense of belonging and community around benefits understanding, which is identified as a fundamental human need (Maslow's hierarchy).

Key Takeaways: • The Crisis of Healthcare Literacy: Only 9-11% of the population understands basic health benefits terminology (deductibles, co-pays), leading to massive utilization errors and financial stress, as evidenced by medical debt being a primary driver of bankruptcies. • Failure of Open Enrollment: The traditional annual 45-minute open enrollment meeting is ineffective; employees focus only on paycheck deductions, treating everything else as noise, resulting in poor engagement and zero return on the employer's significant benefits investment. • Cultural ROI over Fiscal ROI: While cost savings are important, the primary focus of benefits education should be achieving "cultural ROI." This means fostering appreciation, reducing employee frustration, and building trust, rather than solely measuring immediate fiscal savings, which are often obscured by high-cost claims (e.g., hiring pre-diabetics or cancer patients). • The Power of the Medium: The medium is the message. To engage employees in a generational shift, communication must move beyond stale packets and embrace modern, short-form, video-centric content (like INFRMD’s 90-second, jargon-free videos) delivered via platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where consumers spend hours daily. • Addressing Distrust with Truth and Humor: The industry must acknowledge that the healthcare system is often viewed as a "dirty sausage." Using humor and radical transparency (like the approach of Dr. Glaucomflecken) can educate the populace on systemic flaws while simultaneously building trust and engagement. • The Cost Context: The average family health insurance premium is approximately $25,000 per year, a cost equivalent to a new car. Employees often fail to realize their employer absorbs the majority of this cost, leading to unnecessary tension and misplaced frustration regarding minor premium increases. • The Slow Drip Education Model: Effective benefits education requires a year-round, "slow drip" system rather than an annual dump. This continuous engagement helps build proficiency and ensures employees remember critical information when they need to use their benefits months later. • Fiduciary and Liability Protection: Technology can be leveraged to provide "healthy decision support tools" that guide employees to appropriate plans based on parameters (age, income, utilization) without the HR department assuming legal liability by mandating choices. • The Need for Community and Belonging: Drawing on Maslow's hierarchy, the speakers suggest that creating a sense of community and belonging around benefits understanding is a powerful entry point to engagement, leading to greater self-sufficiency and informed decision-making. • Policy Implications and the Single-Payer Risk: The escalating costs and distrust are pushing the US toward a breaking point. If the private sector fails to solve the problem through better communication and cost control, the inevitable public reaction will be a demand for nationalized, single-payer healthcare, which the speakers argue is not the true solution.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• INFRMD: A benefits education and engagement platform (described as the "Netflix of insurance").
• Paro Health, Claim Doc, Plansight: Sponsors mentioned, indicating a focus on self-funded insurance solutions, claim auditing, and broker technology.
• Healthy Decision Support Tool: Technology used to recommend appropriate plans based on user parameters, reducing HR liability.

Key Concepts:

• Cultural ROI: Return on investment measured by improved employee morale, trust, appreciation, and engagement with benefits, distinct from immediate financial savings.
• Healthcare Literacy: The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.
• The Medium is the Message: A concept suggesting that the form or vehicle used to deliver information (e.g., short, funny video vs. long, dry text) is as important as the content itself in influencing perception and engagement.
• Insurance Source of Truth: The moonshot vision for INFRMD to become the definitive, trusted, objective, and engaging resource for all types of insurance knowledge (benefits, Medicare, personal lines, etc.).