Employee Spotlight

Navigating Both Sides of the Health Care Maze

An Interview with Andy Yost

Andy Yost, Employee Benefits Risk Advisor at Hummel Group, advocates for both employers and employees navigating the cost and complexity of health insurance.

Tell us what you did before joining Hummel in 2020.

I was a vice president of sales for P. Graham Dunn, where I worked for eight years. It’s a different industry selling to independent retailers and working national accounts. I changed careers mainly due to lifestyle reasons. I had three young kids and was traveling all over the country. I was living life on a jet. Anytime I was booking a flight, I would try to find the earliest flight out. Making a change to be closer to home, closer to my family, was the primary driving factor behind making the change.

What was the beginning of your time with Hummel like?

I started at Hummel Group in February 2020. I got my licensures, and then COVID hit. My wife and I had just had our 2nd and 3rd children, twin boys, and I was in the middle of my job transition. I had to figure out the new job from home. There was a learning curve getting to know the technical side of the employee benefits space, but I’ve caught up through experience.

How did you wrap your head around the switch from selling physical products to being in the employee benefits world?

When there’s a physical good delivered at the end of that sale, you can feel it and hold it. It evokes emotion. Insurance definitely evokes emotion, but there’s nothing tangible that you receive as the end result other than a stack of paper. So that was a change.

But at the end of the day, you’re still working with people. Both types of work are about relationships and developing trust. The principles I follow and the skills I developed throughout my time at P. Graham Dunn transitioned well to Hummel.

How do you serve your benefits clients?

I was a vice president of sales for P. Graham Dunn, where When a policy is about to renew, we get it a few months before and assess it for our clients. We then work with them to come up with a strategy that works for them. As health insurance costs keep rising, I’ve had to educate myself on the strategies available in the market in order to save employers money on their health insurance plans. I’ve developed a network of strategic partners so that I can bring options to clients for their employee benefits program.

A lot of time is spent educating clients and prospects.

By advising them, we empower them to make good business decisions. I also spend time on service, such as answering employees’ questions about their health plan. I just got an email about a long-term disability claim that was denied, and I need to look into why and file an appeal.

So, you’re taking on the responsibility of advocating for the employee?

Yes. This is what differentiates Hummel from the service side of employee benefits. At some companies, employees are instructed to call the insurance carrier and figure it out on their own. With Hummel, you have a service team acting as your liaison between the insurance company. We advocate to bring resolution and clarity to insurance issues.

How do you help employers realize their range of options?

We have a pulse on the market. Hummel does a great job of networking and keeping its ear to the ground. We know about the latest strategies and partners that are available to realize cost savings.

For instance, I was getting to know a client for the first time and discovered he did not have a broker. He had a type of health plan known as a grandmother plan, and the rates were extremely high. I let him know about another health insurance platform available that would lower his deductible and save $200,000 on his health insurance premiums annually. He was thrilled but would not have known those options were available to him if it wasn’t for the conversation we had.

What misconceptions are prevalent in the health insurance industry?

People are often skeptical about any type of insurance, not just health insurance, and they do not always see the value. Because of my own experience, however, I have seen the financial protection that health insurance can provide. It provides stability. Healthy people who never need to go to the doctor have to pay for health insurance premiums. I understand the frustration. But insurance is protecting against the unknown risk. You never know when a medical event or condition can occur. And that’s where having major medical insurance is a safety net for financial protection.

Can you tell us more about what you mean through your experience?

Before joining Hummel, my wife and I were healthy and rarely went to the doctor. I paid for health insurance out of my check, but I did not give it much thought until my daughter was born. She had to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit at Akron Children’s Hospital. It wasn’t until she was about 6 months old that we found out she has a rare genetic condition leading to some mild to moderate special needs.

Through that process, my eyes were opened to the pitfalls that you can run into as an insurance consumer. You may think you are using an in-network provider that is in fact a third party to your physician group and is outside the network. How are you supposed to know?

The experiences we’ve had raising my daughter is one of the reasons I joined Hummel. I saw a better way. Brokers, in my opinion, can play a more pivotal role in service. They should be an advocate for the employer, of course, but also for the employees at that employer as they navigate their health care journey.

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