Hope Is Not A Strategy
What stewardship actually looks like, from the website rebuild to a conversation with Seth Serxner
Have you been missing me?
It’s been quieter than usual. Not because nothing was happening. Because everything was happening behind the scenes.
Two things I want to catch you up on.
1. The website is live.
I finally rebuilt clearhcs.com(opens in new tab)(opens in new tab), and this time it’s built around a single idea instead of a list of services: hope is not a strategy, stewardship is. Too many employers are hoping their broker has it handled. Hoping next year’s renewal comes in lower. Hoping nobody asks hard questions about how their broker gets paid. Hope isn’t a plan. It’s what happens when there isn’t one. The new site is built to make the alternative obvious.
2. And I had a conversation I want you to hear.
Seth Serxner(opens in new tab), Chief Health Officer at EdLogics(opens in new tab), had me on his podcast, Health Literacy 2.0(opens in new tab). We talked for close to 25 minutes and covered a lot of ground.
Here’s the short version.
Most benefit plans are a ball of band-aids. Literally, I brought one to the recording (below is the actual ball of band-aids). Patched year after year, never rebuilt from scratch. Every open enrollment adds another layer. Nobody ever asks what the plan was supposed to accomplish in the first place.
We got into:
- The benefits hamster wheel — shell-shocked after open enrollment, silent for months, scrambling at renewal, repeat. No room in that cycle for actual strategy, only reaction.
- Why HR and Finance talk past each other — Finance can have deep conversations with their P&C broker about insuring buildings and company vehicles, but ask about people-related benefits decisions and the conversation stalls. That disconnect costs real money every year.
- The five things every employee should know cold — premium, deductible, coinsurance, copay, and the one that matters most and gets talked about least, the annual out-of-pocket max.
- Why the buyer owns the outcome — not just the broker. That means vetting the relationship, understanding how your broker gets paid, and holding them accountable the way you’d hold any other vendor.
Hope is not a strategy. Stewardship is.
You can catch the full conversation anywhere you tune into podcasts, or on my Substack and YouTube channels (don’t forget to subscribe so my updates don’t get lost in the algorithm):
More is coming. This was the warm-up, not the whole show. I’ll have more from the site relaunch and a few things I’m not ready to announce yet.
If any of this landed, I’d rather hear about it than guess. Reply to this newsletter or drop a comment on my latest post. And if you know someone stuck on their own hamster wheel right now, mid-renewal panic and all, forward this to them. It might save them a headache.
Ciao, Vincent Catalano(opens in new tab)
About Vincent Catalano & CLEAR Healthcare Solutions
Vincent Catalano is the founder and CEO of CLEAR Healthcare Solutions and host of The CLEARly Beneficial Podcast. With over 23 years of experience in employee benefits and insurance brokerage, including time at Arthur J. Gallagher, Catalano founded CLEAR Healthcare Solutions to provide independent, unbiased healthcare benefits consulting. His unique position outside corporate constraints allows him to have frank conversations about healthcare issues that others can’t address.Â
Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, financial or professional advice. Listeners should consult with qualified professionals regarding their specific situations.