Healthcare2U’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Rodriguez speaks with Doug Wagner about exciting strides being made in the development of a pill that could replace insulin for type 1 diabetes sufferers.

Interview Transcript

Wagner: Dr. John Rodriguez joins me next. If you’re a type 1 diabetic, you’ll want to listen to this. People may have the ability to take pills instead of using insulin shots to control their diabetes. It’s the WMT Morning Show with Doug Wagner on News Radio 600 WMT. On the Morning Show, it is 6:46. Welcome to your Tuesday, February 14th. Welcoming to the newsmaker line, a Texan has got to appreciate a little Stevie Ray Vaughn this early in the morning.

Dr. John Rodriguez joining me on the newsmaker line. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us. I’ll introduce a little bit more about you and what you do, how you do with coming up. But I want my listeners to find out how important what you’re talking about is, as I was telling the story earlier, I’ve got a buddy I didn’t realize, a super athlete. He had type 1 diabetes all the way through. Even as a super athlete, as an adult, he had to have a transplant because of the effect type 1 diabetes had on his body, even though he was working hard to control it through insulin. What you’re going to tell us though is that type 1 diabetes may be able to be controlled in the future using pills instead of shots. How far in the future? Is this now, or not?

Dr. Rodriguez: Well, it’s just a little few more years far out, but the researchers at the University of British Columbia finally look like they’ve come up with a pill. Because, by the way, this has gone on for years. They studied the pill, and they can’t get it right. They think this time that they found a way to get the insulin into our systems that’s not going to break down and cause problems like the previous pills. So, the fact that they could put a pill between your cheek and gum and have it absorbed and have it almost a hundred percent absorbed, is amazing.

The applications are tremendous, right? So, you don’t have to carry around insulin in a refrigerator and constantly be giving yourself shots before or after a meal or bedtime, etc. I mean, it’s going to be a godsend to a lot of these young kids that have to do this- that’s a traumatic experience. So, it’s an awesome thing to see. We hope it’s going to come to fruition very soon, but it’s going to take time, just like any research product takes time. So, that’s coming.

Wagner: Dr. John Rodriguez is the Chief Medical Officer of Healthcare2U. Passionate about the care provided to you as patients, he manages all the care providers in Healthcare2U’s network of clinics. We were talking before we got on the air- you say that this may have application for type 2 diabetes down the line as well.

Dr. Rodriguez: Absolutely. Type 2, granted, it is a lifestyle, sadly enough. I mean, if we just get up, get off the couch, move, eat healthy, that’s going to fix our diabetes. But in the case that that can’t happen, and we have to inject with insulin, which is always a last resort, this is going to be much, much more palatable instead of a shot and carrying around insulin in a refrigerator. This is a way you can give yourself a pill before or after your meal to supplement that glucose load that you’re going to get. So, even in type 2, there are applications.

Wagner: It’s so interesting the way technology is allowing us to do things so much differently. And especially because I remember the first girl that I had a crush on was a type 1 diabetic. She’d be outside playing, and her mom would call her in for an insulin shot. Everybody else was having birthday cake, and she wasn’t. And I felt so badly for her.

But now with this insulin-mimicking molecule that can be developed in an oral pill, this can really allow for much more freedom.

Dr. Rodriguez: Absolutely. And then that’s the thing, I mean, we see our kids, and you love your kids, but to have a child with type 1 is just… It’s such a burden and a cross to carry. But this would make it a little easier when you can have that option.

Wagner: And it’s just amazing too, guys, because I was telling the story of the friend of mine from high school. He was a super athlete, a freak. The kid was five-nine, and he could get up way over the rim and dunk a basketball. He is still in super fit shape, but he had type 1 diabetes for all those years, and it just has started to ruin his kidneys. Is this something that is going to be able to help push back on that as well, the way that you have organ failure because of diabetes or not?

Dr. Rodriguez: Yeah, absolutely. And again, one of the cruxes of diabetes is the high sugar load, right? When you have high sugar loads in the bloodstream running around for months and years, it creates nerve damage and vascular damage to the body that creates your heart attacks and your strokes and your kidney failures, etc.  So, that’s the nice thing about the pill. It’s going to help reduce that.

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Healthcare2U’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Rodriguez, is featured in a live WAFB-9 News story giving tips on how to manage stress around the holidays with reporter Breanne Bizette.

Transcript

Healthcare2U’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Rodriguez, speaks with Guy Wehman on why it feels like more and more people have a gluten allergy these days. Dr. Rodriguez explains what exactly gluten is, some of the myths behind it, its symptoms, and how to test yourself to see if you have a gluten allergy.

To read the interview transcript, click here.

To view more helpful Healthcare2U videos, check out our YouTube Channel!

Charlie Geiselhart, CRO of Healthcare2U, speaks with Daniel Litwin about how more companies and people are considering new, out-of-the-box solutions for affordable healthcare coverage

Podcast: Digital Disruption
Publisher: MarketScale
Host: Daniel Litwin with special guest, Healthcare2U’s CRO, Charlie Geiselhart

Inaccessibility to low-cost health insurance is a fact of life for many people, as well as employers who want to offer part-time and 1099 workers solutions. Where can people turn to when they want affordable healthcare coverage? Charlie Geiselhart, CRO of Healthcare2U, spoke with Daniel Litwin about how more companies and people are considering new, out-of-the-box solutions.

When faced with selecting a healthcare coverage plan for employees, companies may have options, but they may not always be viable. Healthcare2U is a membership-based, direct primary care organization that provides employers, brokers, and patients with complete primary and urgent care nationwide.

“From an employer’s perspective, there are alternatives out there, but they’re costly,” Geiselhart said. “The high-deductible plan’s been out there for a long time. For an employee, it’s expensive to buy coverage. It’s expensive to use coverage. So, a lot of people are going without coverage.” Geiselhart said that, with all the choices available, it can be challenging to navigate the space. “The layperson doesn’t understand how insurance operates, so what we’ve decided to do is do a lot of handholding through our coverage and our program that allows them to make one phone call and access care,” Geiselhart said.

This access, Geiselhart said, is essential. When it comes to issues surrounding healthcare coverage, costs, etc., the average person wants help and needs advice and expertise regarding navigating a world they typically spend their time avoiding. Healthcare brokers recognize that they have traditional coverage offerings for many employers and employees. Still, those traditional offerings leave a large pool of people off the table. Those left outside looking in still want access to healthcare coverage.

“There are a lot of brokers operating in the traditional sense, but there are new and exciting alternatives that a lot of brokers haven’t explored,” Geiselhart said. Healthcare2U is one such possibility.

Healthcare2U is the nation’s fastest-growing hybrid DPC provider.

Healthcare2U is a membership-based, hybrid direct primary care (DPC) organization that ensures employers of all sizes and structures have nationwide access to affordable, consistent, and quality primary care over 40% below the average cost of traditional DPC practices operating in the market today. Through our proprietary Private Physician Network (PPN)™, Healthcare2U promotes healthy living by detecting, treating, and managing acute and chronic conditions before the onset of serious illness. Healthcare2U is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is available nationwide. For more information, visit www.healthc2u.com.

Interested in learning more? Let’s get in touch

Article: Expanding Benefits Sales With Non-Insurance Alternatives For The Remote Workforce
Publication: Broker World Magazine
Author: Andy Bonner

The world’s reliance on remote work has been permanently altered thanks to the social distancing measures put in place during the pandemic. This reliance on technology has been implemented across industries and has affected employer groups large and small. As employers continue to adapt to this new normal, it’s unlikely things will ever return to the way they were pre-pandemic.

Instead, we expect even more client groups to join the remote work revolution in the years ahead. These tough economic times have been challenging for everyone but especially for small groups. And as companies pivoted to remote or hybrid workforces during the past year, many learned that having a remote workforce across multiple states provides a unique set of challenges for some employers.

In an effort to fight rising healthcare costs, large and small groups are shopping around for a new healthcare alternative that might equate to lower premiums and fewer claims to impact their profits. By providing timely solutions, brokers can reinforce their value and position themselves for growth in the years ahead.

Read the full article here: Broker World Magazine

                                               Interested in learning more? Let’s get in touch

Article: Non-Insurance Health Care Alternatives: Building Broker Business and Helping Overlooked Populations
Publication: Benefits Pro Magazine
Author: Charlie Geiselhart

Because of rising health care expenses, many employers elect to offer their employee populations high deductible health plans (HDHPs), which provide unattractive benefits because of the expenses involved. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, the average premium for family coverage has increased 22% over the last five years and 54% over the previous 10 years. These premiums have significantly outpaced the growth of workers’ wages and inflation during that same period.

With premiums escalating for every family member added to a health plan, even employees with health coverage through their employer often can’t afford to cover their dependents.

These uninsured dependents have previously been viewed as an unserviceable population, but benefits brokers can utilize non-insurance health care alternatives to provide usable benefits to a population that dearly needs them.

Read the full article here: BenefitsPro Magazine

Interested in learning more? Let’s get in touch

Article: Linking Healthcare Benefits to Workforce Strategy for Small Businesses.
Publication: America’s Benefit Specialist Magazine
Author: Charlie Geiselhart

A comprehensive benefits package contributes to a healthy work culture by promoting employees’ physical and mental well-being. It also makes employees feel valued and brings greater peace of mind when they know their families can get the healthcare they need. Not only do excellent benefits help raise morale and create a positive work environment, but they also help small employers stand out among candidates in a highly competitive hiring landscape.

Even before a pandemic that caused economic upheaval on a massive scale, small businesses struggled to provide meaningful benefits and retain good talent. The Commonwealth Fund did a study in 2019 that revealed healthcare costs are the top concern for small businesses. When asked to choose their top two challenges, 37 percent cited the cost of providing health coverage to employees, followed by 33 percent who said attracting new customers was top of mind.

That was during a time when small business owners felt their businesses were doing well. Now that many are struggling to maintain after the pandemic, smaller clients lose hope because they don’t know about more affordable healthcare alternatives. Here we’ll examine why small businesses have limited healthcare options and how brokers can address these disparities.

Read the full article here: America’s Benefit Specialist Magazine.

Interested in learning more? Let’s get in touch

Article: Will Direct Primary Care Be 2020’s Health Care Darling?
Publication: InsuranceNewsNet Magazine
Author: Andy Bonner

The portrait of the American healthcare system isn’t pretty. The Commonwealth Fund reported in November that health insurance costs and deductible costs have been growing faster than the median income in all states over the past decade, meaning many working families are spending more of their income on healthcare.

Employers and employees are struggling to keep up with a system that was never created with their best interests in mind. Tired of being fleeced for care, people are desperate for affordable alternatives, and employers are looking to their benefits advisors for creative solutions to keep their workforce content. Read the full article at issuu.com.

About Healthcare2U: Healthcare2U is a membership-based, hybrid direct primary care (DPC) organization that ensures employers of all sizes and structures have nationwide access to affordable, consistent and quality primary care 40% below the average cost of traditional DPC practices operating in the market today. Through our proprietary Private Physician Network (PPN)™, Healthcare2U promotes healthy living by detecting, treating, and managing acute and chronic conditions before the onset of serious illness. Healthcare2U is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is available nationwide. For more information, visit www.healthc2u.com.