JACK SEARS: Welcome to the Legacy of Leadership series here at the Daily News Network. And today you’re on a mission with Jack Sears where we visit with local entrepreneurs, business leaders to talk about their mission, to talk about what they’re bringing to the table to help others win in life. And today we have Larry Adkins, who is the chief executive officer of ACBS Insurance Services. And I get that right. Larry?
LARRY ADKINS: Yeah, you did good job.
JACK SEARS: Welcome to the show!
LARRY ADKINS: Well, thanks for having me.
JACK SEARS: What is ACBS insurance? Yes, let’s start there.
LARRY ADKINS: So ACBS Insurance Services is actually an insurance agency that provides, medical insurance for people turning 65 or already age 65. Okay. in the, in the marketplace,
JACK SEARS: 65. That’s that magic Medicare number in it.
LARRY ADKINS: Yes, it is. we provide Medicare Supplement Advantage and PDP plans for people all across America.
JACK SEARS: Great. How long have you been doing this work?
LARRY ADKINS: I started at the young age of 22, and I’m, 55 now, so I guess it’s 33 years, in this space. 33.
JACK SEARS: Yeah. Have you seen, what kind of changes in the space have you seen in that span of time?
LARRY ADKINS: Yeah, we’ve went through a lot of changes since 1992. you know, first, there was no such thing as a Medicare advantage plan. It was all Medicare and Medicare supplement plans up until the early 2000. And then the government came out with a program called Medicare Advantage, where, whereby you had more benefits that resembled what you would have while you were working, like an HMO kind of plan. And right now, those are the most prevalent plans that are out there, in the marketplace, because it gives people low cost, a lot of flexibility, a lot of, you know, options in terms of what physicians, doctors and hospitals. And then the only difference is, are the individual carriers that it’s with and what things they cover.
JACK SEARS: As you can tell by my gray hair, I’ve kind of walked down this space a little bit. So yeah, I understand. So, what advice would you give to someone who is approaching that magical age of 65 to prepare for such a transition for these services? What advice would you give? How soon should you start? Yeah, so the planning of the health insurance component of the insurance part of the retirement plan should be planned at all?
LARRY ADKINS: No, no later than three months prior to turning age 65. Even if you’re going to stay with your employer, you need to know what your options are and what your responsibilities are to sign up. And then you get three months after, to sign up for, Medicare Part A and part B. If you fail to do so, there’s a penalty involved.
if you don’t sign up right away when you’re eligible. So it’s very important that people start, researching, go to our website, for example, at ACBSInsurance.com. And you’ll have find all kinds of articles and webinars and really start to educate yourself on the things you need to be aware of as you start to make your decisions for health insurance.
JACK SEARS: Yeah. having walked down this space, it seems a little complicated, right? You know, you got part A, part B, then you got part D, the drug plan, etc., etc. and then and then of course, it looks like a lot of premiums for those supplemental plans come out of your Social Security check. Right. You know, what does someone do if they’re not going to draw Social Security until age 67 and they’re 65? Is that do you see that?
LARRY ADKINS: We see that. And they actually end up paying out of pocket, sending the checks directly to the government, for that. But, a lot of folks sign up for the Medicare Advantage plans, and there’s really no premium involved. And those those come directly out of, you know, the Social Security offer.
JACK SEARS: Let’s turn the conversation around. Let’s talk about leadership. Right. So you run a company, you run a business. any lessons learned that if someone was starting out in the insurance business, what would you mentor and share with them?
LARRY ADKINS: Well, I think there’s a lot of lessons learned over the last 30 plus years. Number one is the customer, comes first. And there’s so many opportunities and options for people to go and either get misinformation over the internet or call one 800 number because they saw a famous sports person or whatever on television. And we’re the last group of folks that are actually out there face to face and hear webinars and doing one on one consultations to help people make the right choices, because one error in this space could cost your family hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid medical claim.
And so making sure you have an advisor that has experience in an agency that has national breath because, you know, if you move from one state to another, a lot of those plans aren’t, you know, transferable. So you’re gonna have to get a new plan. The beautiful thing about us is we’re in about 25 states around the country and we have the ability to work with you no matter where you are.
JACK SEARS: That’s a great lesson in leadership. And, and it’s for a lot of us to learn from it. Put the client first. So, listen, you’ve been a marvelous guest. it’s been interesting to learn more about what you’re doing and your business and your background. How would our audience if they wanted to learn more about your services, maybe connect with you? How would they connect with, your firm and your company?
LARRY ADKINS: Yeah, they could go to the website at ACBSInsuranceServices.com. They can find us there. we have webinars that we advertise all over the place that they can come and just get educated. There’s no cost or anything to to learn. Or they can reach out to me directly at Larry Adkins@ACBSinsurance.com.
JACK SEARS: Yeah, great. Well, listen, thanks for joining me today here on the show.
Okay. That’s it folks. That’s the time we have here today on a mission with Jack Sears. If you’d like to learn more about ACBS, Larry and a host of other things that are happening here in our community, be sure to check us out at the DailyNewsnetwork.com until we get together next time.
Here’s wishing you good health, much happiness, and remember, treat each other the way you’d like to be treated.