Be A (Healthcare) Advocate, with Kristen Rivers

“There's a reason why every insurance carrier likely owns or is owned by a pharmacy benefit management company, that’s one of the ways that they can drive revenue." - Kristen Rivers My guest this week, Kristen Rivers from ParetoHealth, is one of the strongest healthcare advocates I know. This week on Self-Funded, Kristen and I discuss her upbringing, how that affects the work she does today, what caused her to leave a position at the biggest insurance company in the world, and why she believes in the work she’s doing at ParetoHealth today. Along the way, we talk about some of the biggest problems in healthcare, from the user experience to misaligned incentives that profit from driving up the cost of healthcare. The main takeaway: we need more advocates like Kristen if we’re going to fix this industry. Chapters: 00:00:00 Introducing Kristen Rivers 00:08:16 Kristen’s Introduction To Health Insurance 00:16:10 The Importance of Data Transparency and Choice 00:19:50 Advocating For Better Healthcare 00:33:23 Renewal Increases in California Insurance Market 00:35:18 Medicare Cuts 00:41:18 Employer-led Healthcare Plans 00:51:06 Misaligned Incentives 00:53:26 Driving Down Healthcare Costs through Employer Advocacy Key Links for Social: @SelfFunded on YouTube for video versions of the podcast and much more - https://www.youtube.com/@SelfFunded Listen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1TjmrMrkIj0qSmlwAIevKA?si=068a389925474f02 Listen on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/self-funded-with-spencer/id1566182286 Follow Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-smith-self-funded/ Follow Spencer on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/selffundedwithspencer/ Key Words: Healthcare Industry Transition, Transparency Matters, Navigating Healthcare, California Insurance Market, Medicare Cuts, Self Funded Plans Healthcare Quality Metrics Industry Complexities, Employer Advocacy, CAA Regulations, Healthcare System, Cost Management, self funded, podcast #HealthcareIndustryTransition #TransparencyMatters #NavigatingHealthcare #CaliforniaInsuranceMarket #MedicareCuts #SelfFundedPlans #HealthcareQualityMetrics #IndustryComplexities #EmployerAdvocacy #CAARegulations #HealthcareSystem #CostManagement #selffunded #podcast