Happy Thanksgiving from The Benefit Whisperer
From all of us at The Benefit Whisperer and Route Three, we wish you a safe, peaceful, and joyful Thanksgiving.
The Rebate Racket: Why Employers Are Still Getting Fleeced (Ep. 35)
Ralph Weber is joined again by PBM insider Rachel Strauss to deconstruct how rebate programs have evolved into hidden commissions and cost traps. Learn how to avoid rebate mirages, leverage 340B strategies, and spot the telltale signs your PBM is profiting more than they should. 00:00 Introduction to Pharmacy Benefits and Rebates 02:39 The Evolution …
From Bankrupt to Bulletproof: Why Critical Illness Coverage Matters Now (Ep. 34)
In this episode, Ralph sits down with longtime friend and insurance strategist Mark Halpern, founder of IllnessProtection.com and WealthInsurance.com. Mark shares how his father’s untimely death shaped his mission to make critical illness insurance and philanthropic estate planning a household conversation. From stark differences between Canadian and U.S. insurance markets, to overlooked strategies like return-of-premium …
$1 Trillion in WasteHealthcare Contracts and Digital Legos (Ep. 33)
Ralph Weber welcomes back Dr. David Scheinker, Executive Director at Stanford Children’s Health and founder of SURF Stanford Medicine. Together, they tackle the inefficiencies buried in hospital-payer contracts and how lack of standardization drives up costs. Dr. Scheinker shares how his team uses operations research and optimization modeling to streamline care, reduce waste, and protect …
Are PPO’s the Problem? Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know. (Ep. 32)
In this episode, Ralph Weber is joined once again by compliance strategist Ann Lewandowski to dive deep into the unseen world of healthcare data, who owns it, who profits from it, and what most employer contracts don’t actually protect. They break down the illusion of “transparency” in benefit plans, the legal blind spots of HIPAA, …
Trust, But Verify: Why Your TPA May Be Selling Your Employees’ Data (Ep. 31)
Ralph Weber welcomes back Ann Lewandowski to unpack one of the most overlooked threats in benefits: your data. This episode exposes how TPAs and PBMs can legally profit from “de-identified” plan data, why HIPAA offers false comfort, and what transparency should mean in 2025. If you’re a plan sponsor, this is essential listening. 00:00 The …
The PBM Princess: From Rebate Myths to Deception, How PBMs Hide True Rx Costs (Ep. 30)
On this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber interviews Rachel Strauss, the “PBM Princess,” to expose how pharmacy benefit managers manipulate contracts, rebates, and definitions to extract margin from employers. They break down contract landmines, phony transparency language, weak audit clauses, and the real story behind “100% pass-through.” If you’re an employer, broker, or …
What If You Could Pay the Hospital with a QR Code? (Ep. 29)
A trillion dollars. That’s how much the U.S. loses every single year, not on doctors or medicine, but on the billing chaos of healthcare. In this episode, Ralph Weber unveils something quietly revolutionary: Noverasys. It’s not just a payment system, it’s a reset button for healthcare costs. One where hospitals get paid instantly, patients stop …
Fiduciary Failures & The Great American Healthcare Heist: How Employers Are Being Played (Ep. 28)
Employers are footing the bill, but locked out of the details. In this episode of The Benefit Whisperer, Ralph Weber pulls back the curtain on how PPO contracts, TPAs, and PBMs are rigged to benefit everyone except the plan sponsor. Featuring insights from public-sector reformer and author Chris Deacon, this conversation breaks down: Why “discounted” …
Chris Deacon: $2B Scam Broker Kickbacks & PBM Profits Fiduciary Duties Exposed (Ep. 27)
Guest: Chris Deacon, author of The Great American Healthcare Heist and former Director of Health Benefits, State of New Jersey. Chris joins Ralph Weber to reveal how her team saved $2 billion, including $400M annually on pharmacy spend, by exposing PBM shell games, fixing contracts, and enforcing fiduciary duty. 📌 Topics: How much waste is …