By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Joe Hessling knows the health care system.
He’s been a partner in the RL King Agency, an employee benefits consulting firm, for 14 years. In the 20 years previous he worked in the Mercy Health System and for the Diocese of Toledo overseeing the health insurance and pension plans for its 3,000 employees. He also serves on the board of directors for a Medicaid clinic.
Also, he said in a telephone interview: “I’m a person who has had every illness known to man.”
That personal experience is as important as his work experience. “To be a consultant you have to have experience with industry. You can be much more empathetic to individuals who are taking on the insurance companies and the insurance market and help them walk their way through it.”
Hessling will share his knowledge when he presents Health Care for the Underserved, Sunday, June 25, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at Maumee Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 20189 N. Dixie Highway (Route 25) Bowling Green.
“I’m an advocate for access to care, to make sure everyone had access to health care,” he said. His approach is to provide people with the information they need to both make decisions for their own care but also advocate for the kind of health policy they’d like to see the country adopt.
Hessling tries to steer clear of advocating for any particular policy, though he has his opinions.
He said on Sunday he’ll be “explaining what’s happening on both sides of the aisle … what’s good and what’s bad.”
“The purpose isn’t to get people to take a position, one or the other, but to see what’s at stake.”
The talk comes as the Republican leadership in the U.S. Senate has just unveiled its plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Hessling said he hopes to have a legislative analysis of the plan before Sunday. He certainly expects questions on it. “Based on the House bill I have a pretty good idea of what direction it’s going.”
Then he did offer an opinion: There were a lot of things wrong with Obamacare, but “it can be fixed.
The content of the session will be driven, he said, by what the audience is concerned about. If there are a lot of older people in attendance it may steer toward Medicare.
Hessling also works closely with Jobs and Family Services helping people get on Medicaid.
He finds there’s a great knowledge gap. People tend not to focus on the details until they need care.
He said he recently had to explain to a client why his doctors weren’t in the network for the plan he’d selected. That’s why the plan was priced the way it was, Hessling said. The client could have gotten a plan that covered the providers he’d been using, but it would have been more expensive. And now he has to wait until the next open enrollment period to switch.
Hessling will explain the concepts behind this and other health care insurance dilemmas.
“I try to push people to be advocates for what’s important,” he said. Hessling admits that can be scary given there’s “so many things that are so wrong.”
“My view is you pick something that’s really important to you, and you put your energy there.”
