Fix-It Radio hits the road and broadcasts live from the Red Lion Car Show at Leprino Foods, where classic cars, great food, and great people collide. John Rush is joined by Paul Leuenberger from GIA Insurance and Steve Horvath from Geno’s Auto Service to talk shop—about both cars and Colorado’s skyrocketing health insurance rates.
What starts as a family-friendly event turns into a deep dive into the latest health insurance premium hikes, as Paul reads directly from a Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) email that blames Republicans for rate increases—despite years of Democrat-led mandates. The crew breaks down the facts
SPEAKER 02 :
Walter? Upstairs! Are you alright?
SPEAKER 04 :
In the floor behind the chair. This is America.
SPEAKER 02 :
Does everybody know what time it is? Fix It Radio!
SPEAKER 07 :
And it is Fix-It Radio, KLZ 560. Thank you all for joining us, as always. We appreciate it very much. As I said earlier in the week, and I’ve been talking about it for a week plus, we are at Leprino Foods, the big red lion car show, car, truck, bike, you name it, it’s all here, already full of cars, lots of people. Steve Forvath from Geno’s with me today as well, so good morning, Steve. Good morning. And Paul and I grow, of course, the reason we’re here most of all, GIA. Paul, thank you as well. Thanks for having me here. What a great day. And my beautiful wife joining us also, but not on air. She’s the one handing out, taking pictures, doing all that. So those of you that are out and about, if you want to come by and say hi, please do. We’ve already had two or three listeners this morning, bright and early, come by and say hi and all of that, which we appreciate greatly. It’s always nice to put a… face with a voice, I guess you could say, right? Because we talk to a lot of these people on a regular basis, but you never know what their face looks like. And so today we’ve had all sorts of people already coming by, which we appreciate greatly. And I was saying this earlier, and I mean this sincerely. We have some of the best, not only partners like Paul and Steve and the people that join our shows on a regular basis that support it and make it happen, but our listeners are, I’ll just say it straight up, they are some of the best listeners, I think, around anywhere they’re just solid individuals they they um are just as kind and as as giving as could be and for all of you listening i mean that sincerely every time i meet one of you an event like this it’s just a joy and and i appreciate it and you all are just you’re so kind i really i can’t say it any other way paul and steve they’re just so kind when they when they come up and they’re so thankful that we do what we do on a weekly basis. And that’s what this is all about, I think. But I always tell them, and I mean this sincerely, and I mean this to Paul and Steve and all of the others, those of you that are listening that support this program, all of my programs on a weekly basis, it’s because of them that I get to do what I do for all of you that are listeners. So you guys will all come up and thank me. Don’t thank me. Thank them because it’s because of them that we’re able to pay for and do the things that we do here. on a regular weekly basis because without them, we wouldn’t do it because airtime costs money, and these guys help with that a lot, and I appreciate that greatly. And I mean that, guys. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, it’s a great partnership, and we really love it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, thank you, and I mean that. And, again, all of you that are listeners that come by, thank you also. So Lupino Foods will be here on air live until 1 o’clock. The show goes until 3. Now, this is a show that’s a little different than the typical car show, and Paul can probably explain this a little better than I, And the reason is because the food and the drink and that part of it here at this car show, and I’m not trying to exaggerate, and I’m not, and Steve knows this as well, this is the best food. Any car show, any place in town that you will go to, I would be hard-pressed to bet anybody out there has any better of that going on, Paul, than what you guys have here.
SPEAKER 08 :
You can probably get the best sausage sandwich in Denver right here today. Right today. And North Denver sausage, Paisano sausage, they’re grilling it up. They’ll be grilling it up here pretty soon. It comes hot off the grill. Yep. In fact, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it’s delicious, absolutely. So, again, those of you that are out and about, not only can you bring – and it’s a family event. Bring the kids, the dogs, the whatever. I mean, feel free to come by. And it’s a show, too, that isn’t particular to any make, model, year of car. You will see literally just about every era of car here from the late 20s all the way up into some of the modern stuff. We’ve seen things even driving by, and there’s things rolling in and out as we speak. So whether it’s Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes, early Fords, early Chevys, trucks, you name it, it’s all here, Paul.
SPEAKER 08 :
Everything.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s a great show. Whatever you like, you will find here. Absolutely. So don’t worry about that. If some of you are like, well, I’ve got a choice of car shows to go to. Well, I’ll tell you what. Between the cars, the amount of people that are here, which people watching is always fun as well, but then the food on top of it, again, you won’t find a better place to go than here. So if you’re out and about and you want a really great family event, stop by. And second of all, probably one of the best days this summer we’ve had so far as far as the weather there’s not right now there might be later but there’s not a cloud in the sky it’s absolutely beautiful it’s not super hot it’s absolutely gorgeous out so if you’re out and about come by just a comfortable breeze it’s perfect so nice it’s perfect so uh paul talked and one thing we were going to talk about today because you had sent me some things uh via email here the other day and just talking about some of the things going on in in our state especially when it comes to the health insurance end of things and i thought Yeah, it’s Fix-It Radio. We do some around-the-house stuff. I get that. But health insurance and that stuff, it does affect everybody. It really affects their quality of life on a regular basis. So that’s a big topic.
SPEAKER 08 :
John, I sent you an email, and I wanted just to read the title of the email I received. It was from the Division of Insurance, which I thought was supposed to be nonpartisan. Right. It’s supposed to be. So I see this headline, and I’m going to read it. It says, chaos from congressional Republicans leads to average premium increases of over 28% for 2026.
SPEAKER 07 :
That doesn’t sound very non-partisan, by the way. No.
SPEAKER 08 :
Chaos from congressional Republicans.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sounds like they’re blaming people, if you ask me.
SPEAKER 08 :
Exactly. They’re playing the blame game already for things that they’ve been doing now for a number of years. Okay, so I want to read a couple lines from this thing. Actually, I was infuriated when I received this. It said, due to the passage of the federal tax bill cutting health care, we’ll talk about that, who are they cutting, combined with Republicans’ refusal to extend enhanced tax credits in Congress, The statewide average for submitted premium increases is an alarming 28%. Now, I want to step back. Refusal to extend enhanced tax credits. Tax credits do not impact the premium rate increase. The tax credits are something totally different. That’s a way to help you pay premium. That’s no impact on the actual rate increase of the health insurance. Okay. Okay, so… So that’s just not true.
SPEAKER 07 :
They’re lying, basically.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s the correct word. Okay. So, you know, some of the things that they’re… And then, as I read through it, I see, Republicans’ cruel budget bill gutted Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Gutted Medicaid. Okay, who got a Medicaid? Medicaid is still there. Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Nothing happened to it.
SPEAKER 08 :
What’s happening with Medicaid? Well, recently I was assured that illegal immigrants do not get Medicaid. Okay. Now all of a sudden they’re telling me we’re kicking illegal immigrants off Medicaid and thus we’re gutting Medicaid. They weren’t supposed to be there in the first place. Right. So what’s true? Which one of that is true? Great point, Paul. Now tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans… Everything I’ve seen is that these tax cuts really impact middle-class people and small businesses, not necessarily for the wealthiest. When you say no tax on tips, it’s only up to $25,000. That’s not benefiting the wealthiest. That’s a lower middle income class tax cut. No tax on overtime. That is not impacting wealthiest Americans. That’s a middle class tax cut. So that was from Michael Bennett. Notice all Democrats are quoted in this email I got.
SPEAKER 07 :
Gotcha.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hickenlooper says that Republicans turned their backs on Coloradans to rip away health care for millions of Americans. I would like to see a citation of where that millions comes from. Right. Just to give out extra handouts to wealthy Americans. So they’re all citing the same press release from the DNC. And this is supposed to be coming from the Department of Insurance. Right. Okay, so… The enhanced Affordable Act tax credits, that has to be renewed to continue. We can talk about that later. But really, what’s driving these rate increases? What really is driving it? And you know what? You can go back to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. We could go all the way back to that, and I was talking about that back in 2011, 2012, before it even got implemented. It was passed but not implemented as to what it would do to the cost of health insurance, and it did do exactly that. We now have a health insurance system that’s dominated by a small number of insurance companies because the Affordable Care Act, put the smaller mid-sized companies out of business, so thus we lost competition. Then we went to a system that said you have to cover these 11 Essential benefits in every policy, no option. You have to accept everyone on the policy regardless of health condition. You cannot apply pre-existing condition clauses. And then in addition to the mandates, and then back then they were telling us that’s going to lower premiums. Now I’m saying, how is that going to lower premiums? That’s going to raise premiums. And in fact, it did raise premiums. In fact, we’re seeing it right now in these health rate increases. And a lot of it’s being driven not only because of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, but here in Colorado, we keep enacting new mandates that are required to be covered under health insurance. Okay, so the Democrats in the state legislature have done a good job of raising the cost of our health insurance and now want to blame this bill in Washington for that. So between Polis and the Democrats, between the increased mandates, between the requirements of the ACA, and… this reinsurance piece that is now going to go away which was an artificial way to lower the cost of health insurance we’re now seeing these rate increases come come about with and with really one party to blame and it’s the democrats yeah but but in this in this letter that you stated which by the way make sure everybody understands this this is a
SPEAKER 07 :
Department of Regulatory Agencies, DORA, in other words. So this is a news release from DORA that is supposed to be nonpartisan. This is a government agency that is not supposed to be picking sides, picking winners and losers. And one particular sentence in here. I’m going to go back down and find my place here. But it says, we have been warning folks. That the chaos being caused by the federal government for our health insurance markets was going to create real pain for Coloradans. Folks, that is not a bipartisan decision. press release by any stretch of the imagination, they are definitely taking sides. And Paul gave some great examples. But as you read through this whole letter, this press release, I should say news release that came out from Dora, you can tell that, Paul, this is heavily cited on one side of the political aisle.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, there’s a quote here from Speaker Julie McCluskey, Democrat. Families in my community will struggle to afford Trump’s 40% increase in premium.
SPEAKER 07 :
And really quick, Paul, before we, you know, because we’ll take a break and keep talking about this, though, but for everybody, and again, everybody listening, if you’ve got a question for Paul directly when it comes to especially health insurance and even on the supplemental plans on the Medicare side, by all means, give us a call, 303-477-5600, 303-477-5600. You can also text us a question, 307-2100. 82 22 and paul what i was going to ask is you know number one where you know how are they justifying saying that increases are coming to that effect and then one of the other things i want to get into today with you is i just think there’s so much misconception especially folks when they turn i believe you have to register for medicare three months either three months prior or three months after your 65th birthday prior prior yes three yeah three prior three after so you have you basically have a six month window to register for medicare correct
SPEAKER 08 :
You actually have even longer to register for Medicare, but you do start three months prior. Okay. If you miss it, you’ve got time afterwards for Medicare. Okay. But you have a three-month before, three-month after window if you go into Medicare Advantage.
SPEAKER 07 :
Gotcha. Okay. So those are things, folks, we’ll get into and talk about a little bit today as well because there’s lots of questions. And for a lot of you where you might not be 65 yet, but you will be, At some point, some of you maybe are inching into that or you’re already there and you’re starting to wonder, okay, what do I do? How does this work? You hear all these different horror stories from people and so on. And to get a really good idea of how all that works, we’ll talk about some of that. But, Paul, how are they justifying these scare tactics of telling everybody they’re going to have a 40% increase?
SPEAKER 08 :
Because if people knew the truth, I think they’d be really upset. And this is a lightning rod issue. and um health care always is right away and so i think that they they got together and and said we need to even though these increases are primarily our fault we need to deflect this immediately and that’s what this is it’s a deflection so we’ll push this off to the other side is what you’re saying yes yeah which again folks we talk about that stuff during the week a lot and
SPEAKER 07 :
and try to not do anything super political on Fix-It Radio or Drive Radio. But some things can’t be avoided. There’s just certain things. And my point of this one is, when you’ve got a regulatory agency that is supposed to, by the letter of the law even, they’re supposed to be nonpartisan. They’re supposed to work for the citizenry of the state. That’s why it’s the Department of Regulatory Agencies. They’re supposed to be there to help regulate certain industries and protect you as the consumer at the end of the day. It is not their job to use scare tactics and pick winners and losers when it comes to subjects along these lines. Am I saying that right, Paul? Absolutely correct. Okay. All right. So questions, if you have any, we’re going to take a quick break. We’ll come back. I want to remind everybody, too, though, that we are live today out at Loprino Foods, 1830 38th Street is the address. Best way to get here, there are several ways. So those of you, depending upon what part of town you’re coming from, If you’re close to I-70, take I-70 to Pecos, Pecos South to 38th Street, head west, and I don’t even have to give directions after that. You’ll see enough activity where you won’t have any issues at all figuring out where we are. Now, I think, Paul, you could also come in off probably the 6th Avenue side if you wanted to as well. Yes. You can also come off I-25 directly here. What’s the best ways to do that?
SPEAKER 08 :
I would say I-25, get off at 38th and just go west to Quivis. I-70, get off at Pecos and come south on Pecos to 38th, and Quivis is one block east.
SPEAKER 07 :
You’re not going to miss us, folks. If you get anywhere close to where we are, believe me, there’s enough activity and things going on, and because of the parking lot here being full of cars that are in the show, all of the ancillary parking areas are full from spectators that want to come in and see and Even some of the folk that had to do the food and so on, they have to go park somewhere. They unload, go park, come back, reload, and all that stuff. Anyway, point being, you might have to walk a little bit to actually get here because you’re not going to be able to park right in our parking lot because of all the cars that are here. But definitely do that. Come by, say hi, and I will tell you that. This is one of the, and I mean this not just because we’re here and Paul’s here, but this is one of the best shows in town throughout the year, and I mean that sincerely. Some of the best cars, the best food, the best people. You’ll have a great time. So stop by, say hi. Again, Loprino Foods, we’re at the Red Lion Car Show, and we’ll be right back, guys. Don’t go anywhere. Fix-It Radio, the website, fixitradio.com. This is KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
All right, again, we are live, Leprino Foods, 1830 38th Street. Myself, Steve Horvath from Geno’s Auto Service with us today. We’ll be with us all the way through Drive Radio as well. And Paul Leneiger from GIA, a group insurance analyst with us as well. And, Paul, a great question came in on the whole Medicare end of things. And I’ve had this same question. This person’s thinking like me, meaning there’s probably many others that think the same thing. So the question is, will John and folks go on Medicare when they’re 65, or can you stay on a traditional market rate health insurance plan?
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, that’s a good question. Yeah, it is. Most people that defer going on to Medicare… Do so because they stay on their employer’s group health plan. Okay. Very few people who buy their own health insurance, let’s say through the marketplace, continue on that and forego Medicare. Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
Why?
SPEAKER 08 :
Because you would not qualify for any… advance premium tax credit on the marketplace plan once you’re eligible for medicare okay so you’d pay the full premium with no no tax credit whatsoever okay as opposed to paying 185 a month for your part b premium okay so there’s really no reason for someone who pays for their own health insurance through the marketplace to stay on that when they when they’re eligible for medicare But oftentimes people will stay on their group plan and and they’ll do that until maybe they retire. And then once they retire, then that opens up a window for them to go on to Medicare. And if they’re on their employer’s plan and and the. and they’re covered under their employer’s plan, they do not need to pay for Part B. Okay. Okay, so they can save the premium for Part B while on their employer plan. Got it. And once they retire and come off their employer plan, they’re given eight months to sign up for Part B at that time.
SPEAKER 07 :
Is there… Any care advantages one way or the other? In other words, do people feel like, hey, I can get better care being on my employer’s plan than I can going on Medicare? Is there any validity to that?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, there could be in certain situations. And one thing people might want to consider is the doctor that they’re using. So they may be working with a doctor that’s in their network on their employer plan. And maybe that doctor doesn’t accept original Medicare.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
Or maybe. Meaning they don’t want to make that switch at that point. Exactly. Okay. That makes sense. So that could be a reason. The other thing, it might depend on what kind of prescription drugs that they might be on, that those drugs may be in the formulary for that employer plan. But going on to Medicare and a Part D plan, they may have difficulty finding it in the formulary or maybe at a higher cost tier. So these are things you’d want to look at. And then also the employer plan is probably being subsidized by the employer. Right. So you may be paying little or no premium for that employer plan. So why go on to a plan that you’re going to pay? I see. So those are things.
SPEAKER 07 :
But if you’re contributing, you know, because a lot of employers now, they may cover… the employee, but then the spouse, there’s a cost there, whatever. I mean, there’s all sorts of ways that’s done. In some cases, the employer picks up a percentage of the plan, not all of it. So you’d have to just look at each one of those on an individual basis to see where you’re at then, right?
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. And there’s also something else that’s interesting. And I found this going from my traditional plan onto Medicare. I’ve had some medical… services exact same services done and when you do that you get an EOB an explanation of benefits and I noticed when I had the same procedure done and I was on Medicare my doctor was getting a lot less money okay I also noticed I called a doctor I had a referral to a doctor in Boulder for some tests and I told him I was on Medicare and they only allow a certain number of Medicare appointments per day on their book okay But I did see something pretty astounding. I saw a payout of about $1,200 on a procedure through a private marketplace insurance company to a provider that I use. And one of the agents in the office also uses. And then I saw that same charge later through Medicare, and it was about $150 to the doctor. Okay. So that’s a pretty significant change.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right. We’ve got a call coming in. Joe, you’re next. Go ahead, Joe.
SPEAKER 06 :
John, just one comment for people who are in a position to maybe take some sort of lump sum distribution. Your Medicare Part B starts at $185, but it can go all the way up to $628 per month per person if your income is over $400,000 as a household. And I had a friend who made the mistake of taking a lump sum distribution in December, which bumped him up over the $400,000. So for the next 12 months, he and his wife were both paying, instead of $185 a month deducted from their Social Security check, we’re getting $628 a month deducted from their Social Security check. So be careful with your lump sum distributions. And if you and your wife each have an opportunity to do that, I mean, you know, rather than take it out, you know, $50,000 a year for four years or spread it out, spread it out. And if you and your wife Yes, spread it out because the more your gross income, AGI, the higher your Social Security Part B premiums, which get deducted automatically from your Social Security benefits. So be really careful about taking lump sum distributions, particularly if you have a choice between taking them on December 15th versus January 2nd.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. And that applies, too, if you’re going to sell stock. portfolio, or even if it’s not lump sum distribution, if you’re pulling money out of qualified retirement plans, you may want to look at, because you may be close to a threshold.
SPEAKER 07 :
Selling properties, anything along those lines, you’d want to look at all of that, right? Yes, absolutely. Okay, great point.
SPEAKER 06 :
So you can get buried if you’re not careful.
SPEAKER 07 :
all right guys no great great no great tip joe thank you for that very much so okay here’s a question that that i have and i don’t know as much about this as i should i need to start learning i guess because i’ll be 61 this year so i’m getting closer and closer not there yet but it’s you know what’s that old saying time flies and it seems like it goes faster the older i get paul and steve i don’t know about you guys but it just seems like every year goes by faster and faster How many supplemental plans are there, Paul, and can you tailor it to what you need, or are you pretty much stuck with, you know, here, Steve, here’s what you’re going to get. You have no choice.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, you do have choice. The Medicare supplement plans are divided into a series of plans, Plan A, B, C, D, and all the way up. Medicare Plan G is the most popular. I particularly like High deductible G. You and I talk about self-funding all the time. That’s right. I think that’s the best value out there. A lot of insurance companies won’t even sell a high G plan because it’s not enough premium. Don’t make enough money off of it. What we really should talk about is there’s two avenues for Medicare. When you get out to Medicare, you can go original Medicare. which is Medicare Part A and B. Or you could go Medicare Part C, which is Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage is a way to get your Medicare benefits through a private insurance company. And it’s not necessarily structured the same way as Part A and B, but actually it has to be equivalent. So they may, instead of having deductibles, they might have copayments on a Medicare Advantage plan. where Medicare is set with their deductible and their co-pays for certain. services, hospital co-pays, and so forth. They’re set on that. So you have to determine, do I want to be in original Medicare and maybe purchase a Medicare supplement to pick up the 20% coinsurance and deductible and the Part B excess, and then maybe buy a standalone prescription plan? Or do you want to go into Medicare Part C and get your Medicare benefits through a private insurance company, including your prescription drugs? So that’s the determination you have to make, and that’s the first thing we talk about with people when they’re going on to Medicare. Now, what factors influence that? And there are a number of factors, and it could be what doctors you’re using, what type of medical care you’re currently getting, what prescription drugs you’re on right now. Oftentimes we’re talking about employer plans, and someone’s been on an employer plan now for 30 years. They’ve been with, let’s say, UnitedHealthcare. They’re in that network. Their doctor’s in the network. They get off of that employer plan, and they want to stay with that doctor who’s also in a UnitedHealthcare Medicare plan. And so they go into Medicare Advantage to do that. There’s a big practice on the west side of town that does not accept original Medicare. They accept several Medicare Advantage plans. So if you, as a patient, want to stay with that practice once you hit age 65, you have to go Medicare Part C. You have to go Medicare Advantage. Okay, so that’s an important consideration on going on to Medicare. Medicare C versus Original Medicare. Now, on the other hand, someone may be going onto Medicare, and maybe their doctors don’t accept a Medicare Advantage plan but do accept Original Medicare. Well, that’s a no-brainer. You go right into Medicare Part A and B, and let’s get you into a supplement. And especially if you’re having a lot of ongoing medical care, you’re going to want something to pick up that 20% coinsurance and your hospital insurance deductible and you’re going to want to do it while they have to take you because on the first six months of Medicare eligibility you can buy any Medicare supplement and not be declined. If you wait beyond the six months, you would have to go through underwriting unless you have a special- It’s like a qualifying process then. Exactly, which means you can be rejected. And so if you’re going through cancer treatment or anything major and you’re applying, you’re going to get rejected. But if you’re already on the plan, you’re good.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so again, for those of you listening, talking to Paul and I, group insurance analysts, you can always go to e-gia.com, find out all of these things there, find out phone numbers, who to talk to, all of that. Very easy to do, e-gia.com. And, again, Fix It Radio here this morning. We are live at the Red Lion Car Show at 1830 38th Street, Leprino Foods. If you know this area, you’ll know exactly where we’re at. But, Paul, so somebody like me, us, wife and I, where I have an HSA plan now because we’re healthy. And truthfully, some of the things that I do health care-wise, and those of you listening know my doctor, Dr. Scott, he’s one of our great sponsors. He’s a concierge doctor. So I pay out of pocket for a lot of things because… It’s a concierge service. I’m not going to a regular practitioner that’s going through all of the normal channels of insurance and all that. So I’ve got an HSA plan, which for us, because of our health and where we’re at and so on, works perfect, by the way. If you don’t know what that is, and this is my own advice for you guys, if you don’t know what that is and you’re a healthy person and your employer even offers an HSA plan, look into it because there’s some things with HSA as you get older that that allow you to contribute, that once you hit 65, you’ve got access to some funds that would be maybe very beneficial to some of you listening. It’s something worth checking out. And it’s one of those things that not everybody promotes because most people think it’s unsellable, when in fact I think it’s more sellable, Paul, to people than what they really realize. It goes back to the self-insurance end of things you and I believe in. If you believe in being self-insured, HSA works very, very well. So a question I have for you. On the supplemental Medicare side or just in that general realm, are there HSA options when you get to that point?
SPEAKER 08 :
No. There is an MSA Medicare Advantage plan option, but there’s no one that offers it in Colorado. Ah. By continuing to contribute to your HSA and accumulating money, once you hit 65 and go on Medicare, you can withdraw money to pay your Part B premium tax-free. Okay. You can withdraw money to pay your Medicare supplement premium tax-free. Okay. You can withdraw money to pay your Medicare Part D prescription plan tax-free. And, of course, you can also, even now… pull out money to pay your fee for your concierge doctor from the HSA. So you’re moving that from an after-tax expense to a pre-tax expense, which saves you money right there. Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
And again, it’s one of those things where I’m not an expert in any of these areas. I’ll just tell you that unless you’re somebody that’s got a… With HSA, people probably think, well, what if there’s something catastrophic that happens? You still have insurance for that. It’s just done a little differently with deductibles and so on. Again, you’re self-insuring some things with an HSA plan. that you wouldn’t be otherwise but part of the savings is they know because you’re probably the type of person that’s doing some self-insurance you’re not nickel and diming going to urgent care every other week for the sniffles they know that so you get pretty good rates paul when it’s all said and done so again personally for me it’s the only way to go yeah not as good rates now because of the obamacare as it used to be they kind of destroyed that part Still better than what you would normally get.
SPEAKER 08 :
But the irony is that you just talked about it’s a high deductible plan. I have something catastrophic, and I’m going to have a chunk of out-of-pocket, which you can fund through your HSA. Once again, a pre-tax benefit versus after-tax, which is huge. But the irony is that on a marketplace plan, you have some major expense. You’re going to have the same out-of-pocket expense. Good point.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s going to take you longer to get there, but you’re going to get there. That’s a good point. So you’re going to wind up at the same out-of-pocket. I hadn’t thought about that. Yeah. That’s a good point. And, again, the advantage on the HSA side, and I’m not a financial advisor, folks. This is something you need to talk to somebody like Paul and a financial advisor and determine, Where are you at? Because HSA also allows you when you get to a certain age to contribute more, knowing that you may be tapping into that when you get to age 65 to be able to pay for some of the things Paul just mentioned a moment ago. There’s some things with it that, again, even a lot of employers don’t really promote or advertise or talk about, and even some of their insurance representatives, I guess I should say, because a lot of times those representatives will come into the company and do the presentation and so on. And I’ll just say it straight up, Paul. In a lot of cases, the HSA thing kind of gets skipped over or talked about very lightly because they don’t think anybody wants to buy it. And I think part of that is because people are uneducated about the advantages of it.
SPEAKER 08 :
especially of the difference between a pre-tax expense versus an after-tax and how that affects your income. Now, going back to the fellow who talked about the lump sum distribution, once again, you’re 65 and you’re pulling that money out of your HSA to pay those expenses. It’s tax-free. It doesn’t affect your Part B premium. Good point.
SPEAKER 07 :
So that’s another benefit. Great point. Great question, by the way. Keep asking. We’re going to take a break. We’re going to come back again. We are at Loprino Foods, 1830 38th Street, 1830 38th Street. And I’ll answer this question really quick before we go to break. Paul, somebody asks, what states do you work in? In other words, they’ve got parents that are almost 65. They’re in Nebraska and Wyoming. They are pushing the Medicare Advantage. Unfortunately, our parents are smart enough to know this is not what they want because they want to stay with their Colorado doctor, blah, blah, blah. So where all do you guys work?
SPEAKER 08 :
Not every state, but we are licensed in Nebraska and Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and a lot of California, a lot of Idaho, a lot of the western states.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. All right. So for those of you listening, if you’re in any of those areas that paul just uh mentioned and or you just have a question i always my advice is if you have a question at all even you know you’ve got parents that live in georgia but you still have a question call them they’ll they’ll still help you through some of that they are more than willing to help you make some of those decisions and and try to help you best they can and maybe there’s an alternative that somebody there hasn’t really thought about and as you can tell these guys are the experts so that website again e hyphen G-I-A dot com. So E-G-I-A dot com. We’ll come right back, though. Fix It Radio, KLZ 560.
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SPEAKER 07 :
All right, and we are back. Fix-It Radio, KLZ 560, again, live at the big car show, Red Lion Car Show here at Loprino Foods, 1830 38th Street. And as we said earlier, if you’re in this area at all, be sure to come by. If you’re not in the area, drive to this area. We are literally, I would say, unless you live like in Colorado Springs or something, we’re probably 30 minutes from most places in town. So it really doesn’t matter where you live or what you’re doing. We’re literally about a half an hour away from. Anything around because we’re that close. I mean, people think, just side note, everybody thinks, you know, I live in Golden and the station is at Parker and 225. And when I tell people that, they’re like, you drive that far every day? I’m like, it’s a 30 to 35 minute drive away. when i go down in the afternoons and at night even worst case even last night on a friday night worst case scenario is it’s 45 50 minutes home it’s that and that’s in bumper to bumper traffic so the reality is you can pretty much get anywhere in town within about a half an hour on a day like today although i will say this at about 2 to 3 o’clock in the afternoon on a Saturday, I think traffic in towns is bad as it is at 5 o’clock on a Friday night.
SPEAKER 08 :
I scratch my head every time I’m in a traffic jam on a Saturday afternoon.
SPEAKER 07 :
That part, I come back from the station at about 1 to 1.30 or so. And, you know, traffic will start building on a Saturday at that time. And if, you know, wife and I go out and do anything, errand run or whatever, at, you know, 4 o’clock in the afternoon, it’s just miserable. I guess everybody else has the same idea. I go run my errands or something. At any rate, we’re not that far away from anybody in town. Come by. The food is great. The cars are great. The people are great. And, again, as I said earlier, you’ll see a little bit of every era of car history. here and you get to see some uh some cars from some folks you know like paul who’s here from gia he’s got his mustang here which by the way paul it’s just a just a beautiful car so congratulations it’s just beautiful it’s still a work in progress but they always are it yeah it never ends but i’m happy where we’re at with it right now kind of why you own some of those at times is it’s it’s a it’s a thing we car guys do as you know you’re just always sort of fiddling around with something and working on something and improving something and it’s just it is what it is and that’s why we do what we do it’s the love of the of the hobby i guess you could say yeah because when we grew up that’s what we did that’s right i mean we didn’t have computers we didn’t have internet um you know and and so no in fact we’re outside doing that i was telling somebody the other day somebody was asking me something about video games and all that and yes i grew up when You know, video games were starting to become more popular, and even the arcades were a big deal. And a lot of my friends, they’d have a roll of quarters, and they’d go to the arcade and do this and do that. And I was never, I mean, I was a weird kid, I know, but I never did any of that because I was always working on a car. I mean, even from 13, 14, I bought my first car when I was 14. So I started working on cars and doing things like that, and I didn’t have any desire to do the arcades and the video games and all that because I was typically, to your point, Paul, I was doing something car-related. and and and when we got our cars when we were young they were old so you had to work on they were always breaking down that era of cars um you always get that too it’s like well they don’t make them like they used to yeah thank god thank goodness right thank god they don’t because the reality is back when i was a kid you took a tool bag and Extra parts to go coast to coast than any more. If you’re in a more modern car, in fact, the age of the fleet right now is like 13, 14 years of age. In that era of car, as long as it’s been maintained, you can pretty much hop in any car and go coast to coast and not have to worry too much about anything. Put gas in it.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think those old cars here look really nice. I think they had some really nice designs. And nowadays, we paint them better than they did coming off the factory.
SPEAKER 07 :
No comparison.
SPEAKER 08 :
But mechanically, when I get into the Mustang and I drive it, I’m like, Well, I thought it drove better than this years ago. Well, it did years ago compared to… Because you didn’t know any better.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. That’s right.
SPEAKER 08 :
But now I get out of my Lexus and I go into this and I’m saying, where’s my backup camera? Where’s my sensors? How come it’s rough?
SPEAKER 07 :
I explain it this way. New cars you steer, old cars you drive. Yes. Yes. You literally are driving an old car. You don’t drive a new car.
SPEAKER 08 :
You’ve got mirrors on this Mustang that, why are they even there? I know. You know, the only way to drive is with the top down.
SPEAKER 07 :
I know.
SPEAKER 08 :
Then you can see everything. Put the top up, you can’t see anything.
SPEAKER 07 :
Your comment on the paint, and granted, we’re sitting next to my 2024 Chevy. It’s a ZR2 pickup. It whites. And I will tell you, just looking at it, I mean, we’re right here staring at it. The paint on this truck, and it’s a truck, but the paint on that truck was far superior to anything we had as kids that were even done custom. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that. That’s how much better the paint technology of today is, to your point, Paul, than it was back then.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I think that’s what makes some of these cars so special out here. is they’ve all had these upgraded paint jobs on them that just look absolutely gorgeous.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and if you find an original one that hasn’t been, you can tell. Yeah, and A, there’s not that many of them around, and to Steve’s point, yeah, you can really tell because the quality difference from what was then… Versus now, and Paul brings up a great point because I think about this all the time. In your mind, you go back in time and think, wow, I remember this being this. And then you get in and drive and it’s like, holy crap, this is nothing like what I thought it was. Because we didn’t know any different at that time. We thought that was really a super fast, super handling, super driving car. And the reality is it’s far from all of that.
SPEAKER 08 :
and and it was a gas guzzler too absolutely in addition to all that but um i i certainly like getting in it and driving it the nostalgia of it is cool yes but um as we talked earlier i did some upgrades on the car because the last thing i want to do is stall out because of the carburetor right So we put fuel injection in it. Good for you. I don’t want to deal with points, so we put electronic ignition in it. And Ford had those old FMX transmissions. Why spend the money to rebuild that? Just put a new upgrade to an overdrive transmission.
SPEAKER 07 :
Make it drivable. Exactly. So speaking of all that, this leads me into kind of the insurance side of things. We can kind of finish up this way because we’ve got a few minutes left, and this is a great question. So people that have those types of cars. And this is a mistake that I think a lot of people make is they have a car like that, and they just add it to their regular homeowner-slash-auto policy. And then something happens, Paul, and they’re now fighting with the insurance company because the car is worth $60,000, but the insurance company wants to pay out $20,000. And by the way, these things I’m giving you as examples, I’m not that far off. Believe it or not, I’m not that far off. There’s ways to do that correctly, Paul. Talk about that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, it would be a big mistake just to add that to your auto policy. You know, looking at the Mustang right over my shoulder, the book value on that’s, what, $1,000? Probably. You know, for a blue book value.
SPEAKER 07 :
Under $5,000.
SPEAKER 08 :
But we put $50,000 into it. Correct. Well, we’re going to go with an insurance company that specializes in classic cars where we can buy a stated value. Yep, declared value, right? Declared value. And we’re going to declare $50,000 and pay the premium for that, which isn’t that high because we don’t drive them that much.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, the insurance companies understand that that car might, might at the end of the year get 1,000 miles on it. And realistically, some of these cars won’t see 100 miles. Exactly. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, no. And because of that, even with a stated value, declared value of $50,000, the premium is going to be very, very reasonable.
SPEAKER 07 :
And really quick, part of that for everybody listening, the reason for that is because I explained this to somebody the other day. The realistic or the honest part of this is the chances of Paul – running into somebody else with that car is pretty slim. Yes, it happens, but not very often. The actuaries for that is extremely low. The biggest risk is somebody else running into Paul, not you, Paul, with a Mustang running into somebody else. And the insurance companies know that.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s correct, and they have all the stats on that. So if you have an accident with your classic car and you’ve insured it as a classic car with a classic car insurance company, then they’re not going to come back to you and say, well, this is the depreciated value like they would on your normal auto insurance. If it’s going to cost $20,000 to repair it and you bought $50,000 in coverage, you’re going to get a check for $20,000. So definitely there is a specific market to insure classic cars.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so question on that. I should know this as much as I do in this area and as long as I’ve done this, I should know this, but I honestly don’t. Let’s say, for example, you’re in that car. Somebody runs into you. It is $20,000, but the other person’s insurance company is saying, yeah, no, it’s not. It’s an old car. There’s a couple thousand dollars worth of damage. We’re only going to pay a couple thousand bucks. How does that work at that point in time?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, my insurance company is going to subrogate against them. Okay. So I’m not going to get involved with that. Okay. They will do that. So we’ll report the claim. They’re going to see it was non-fault, someone else was at fault, and they’re going to go after them. Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
In that particular scenario, does that affect your future rates at all or not?
SPEAKER 08 :
Generally, no, not with a classic car insurance policy. Okay. Once again, because of the factors you already cited,
SPEAKER 07 :
um they pretty much know uh it’s low risk yeah it’s much lower risk than regular auto insurance yeah and again for a lot of cars myself included some cars frankly uh paul you fully insure because you you want to because if something were to happen you want to make sure you’re covered but that car and i’m i’m not exaggerating that car might not even leave the garage all year long depends on what you’re doing you may you may be doing something restoration wise to where you’re you’re not even able to drive the car and things along those lines. So a lot, there are some cars, some builders where that car might not come out of the garage for a full year.
SPEAKER 08 :
My car was in the shop a year and a half.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so here’s a question. We got a few minutes left. When you’re building a car like this, Is there the ability to have different types of coverages depending upon what stage you’re at in the build?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes. We started out at a much lower declared value. And at certain steps during the process, we called and just increased that value.
SPEAKER 07 :
As you get more of it done. Yes. You know the value is increasing. Yes. You just keep adding accordingly. And it’s very easy to do. Okay. Very simple. Okay. So for some of you guys that have classic cars, you’ve even thought of, Yeah, this is the other thing that happens. People think about buying a classic car, and then they think, oh, gosh, I don’t know if I’d want to do that. You know, all of the keeping it on the road and then the insurance and so on and so forth. Let me tell you what, folks. The insurance part of it is probably one of the least expensive things on a classic car you’ll ever do because of everything Paul just said. The rates, really, they’re not bad at all. It’s way better than probably what you’re. Your $10,000 because of liability and everything else is probably cheaper than your $10,000 Kia. And I’m not exaggerating at all, Paul, when I say that. You’re 100% correct. It’s just, you look at some of those at times, and it’s like, but then you go back and say, okay, I get this, because they realize this car sees very little street time when it’s all said and done.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s the key, the miles driven.
SPEAKER 07 :
Even when it’s driving, most of the time it’s going to be on a Saturday or a Sunday, and you’re not going to be in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I wouldn’t drive any of mine in bumper-to-bumper traffic, for example, and they know that.
SPEAKER 08 :
And then I’m going to use side streets where I can and avoid as much traffic as possible.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, in a lot of cases, you’re not even… Like for me, if I decide to take a car out and I’m going to go up and see my kids or whatever, I’m not driving I-25 all the way to Frederick. I’m going to drive the back roads all the way to Frederick. A, it’s a funner drive, and B, I don’t want to be on I-25. Exactly. And they know that, by the way. They know these behaviors of the people that buy and own those cars.
SPEAKER 08 :
And insurance premiums are based a lot on behavior. I mean, they have the behavior stats down.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I said this yesterday because… The way it works is when you’re young, so teenage boys especially, but from 16 to about 21, your rates are really high, especially for males. They also get high again, believe it or not, when you get to be in your 80s. Yes. Because they know the actuaries of accidents, believe it or not, they’re bookended when you’re really young and when you’re old. And I don’t want to be rude here, but you can always tell… An older person that owns a car, look at the right front corner of the car and it’s most likely damaged because depth perception changes as we get older and you can’t see where that right front corner is and that tends to be the place that most elderly people will have a problem.
SPEAKER 08 :
And the behavior that drives the premium is different. You know, for the 16 to 21-year-old that’s paying higher rates, it’s a different reasoned behavior than the 80-year-old. For the 80-year-old, it’s not speed.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, it’s the things I just mentioned a moment ago. That’s what gets it.
SPEAKER 06 :
I heard once that there’s a 50-50 chance of getting an accident within your first year. Yes, that’s exactly right. It’s the highest state.
SPEAKER 08 :
I can attest to that with my four kids.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, that is very true. My two, one did, one didn’t. Very true. All right, Loprino Foods is where we’re at, folks. Three more hours coming your way on Drive Radio. If you’re listening to the replay of Fix It Radio. We appreciate that greatly as well. Again, the address, 1830 38th Street. Now, if you’re listening to a replay of this show, this is a Saturday show only. So if you come out and you’re listening to the program on Sunday, Sunday afternoon, Tuesday, whenever you’re relisting to Fix It Radio, no, we are not going to be out here doing the car show. This is a Saturday event only. Going to run until about 3 o’clock today. We’re going to be live on air until 1, so come by and say hi. Larry Unger and Charlie Grimes back in the studio. Thanks, you guys, very much. We’ll be back for Drive Radio in a few minutes. This is Fix It Radio, KELC 560.
SPEAKER 03 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
