Meet John Hansbrough | Employee Benefits Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Hansbrough and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Everyone grows up in a somewhat unique household; I grew up surrounded by pictures of pretty gnarly burn injuries and surgeries. That being said, I can’t say that’s exactly the reason I went into healthcare. While those pictures didn’t gross me out (I was a little boy, I was fascinated!), they didn’t make me want to become a doctor or nurse. I found my way into healthcare in a different way.

Instead, I was fascinated to find out how one patient himself essentially bankrupted his insurance company. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I decided at 8 years old to devote myself to the financing of healthcare, I just filed that information away in my mind and didn’t think much about it again for a while.

While in that case, the carrier went under due to the costs of his healthcare, the reverse is usually the case nowadays. Medical costs are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy. Many employees can’t meet their deductibles and are forced to make terrible tradeoffs between health care and their basic living expenses like rent and food. Study after study finds issues such as employees who can’t afford the cost of their insulin, defer visiting the doctor due to cost, and see conditions worsen due to delayed medical care.

On top of that, employers are burdened with the strain of benefit costs and this problem is acutely impacting small and mid-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy. How is a local company supposed to deal with the persistent premium hikes eating away at wages to the point where many employees haven’t had a real wage increase in years?

We’re dealing with an affordability and care crisis in healthcare for the 150 million Americans who receive coverage through the workplace. And that crisis is particularly hurting local small and mid-sized businesses. So we are in a critical state where we need to bring solutions to the table that can make a significant impact on our clients and their employees. And that’s what we do in benefit consulting.

In order to find relief for our clients, we first took a step back and looked at the big picture. And the relationship we kept coming back to, where interests are super aligned, is the one between employers and providers. Healthy patients are healthy employees, and healthy people have fewer and less severe healthcare costs year over year.

With this in mind, we’re working with employers to develop direct relationships with a local health system. This makes a ton of sense from a few different perspectives.

By bringing a local health system to the table, employers offer better health care which improves employee health and reduces long-term costs. And because we work with health systems located in competitive markets, we can leverage their desire to grow by negotiating deeply discounted rates for employers who work with them. Some companies save so much that they can offer nearly free health insurance to their employees. With those savings, employers can give employees no deductible health insurance, fully pay for the premiums, and offer low copays.

Warren Buffett once remarked that “Healthcare is the tapeworm in the American economy.” In my work with employers over the last decade, I completely understand his perspective. But I’m optimistic that the system can respond and bring new solutions to the table. It has to. What we do is too important. It impacts so many people, so if we have an opportunity to bring relief and real change to businesses and their employees, we have to pick up that torch and make it happen.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think that what sets me apart is a curiosity and a desire to continuously seek out new ideas. I’ve always been an avid reader, and one thing that attracted me to healthcare and our work in benefits is how there is always something new to learn and incorporate in our work. One thing I heard when I was younger is to find a career where you enjoy learning new things about the field. If you are interested in what you do, you’ll find success, however you define it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As I live on the westside of LA, I would definitely push beach and outdoor activities on someone. I recently suggested to a friend vising to check out a hike in Malibu, hit the beach, and do a culinary tour. Specifically, I suggested street tacos in Venice, Ethiopian food on Fairfax, sushi on Ventura (and all over), Then check out Ticketmaster to find a local show or unique event going on – the recent Miyazaki exhibition is a great example. LA is such a diverse and multi-faceted city. Don’t get stuck in one area or in one track, explore what the city has to offer!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have to shout out two people influential in how I’ve developed this perspective – my mom Wendy and my boss Peter. Wendy is a nursing professor and I grew up having extensive dining room table discussions about healthcare topics like Medicare, ACA, scope of practice laws, medical education, and more. Her curiosity and ability to find ways to lead wherever she finds herself have been massively influential on me.
Peter is an incredibly thoughtful and conscientious person who has spent hour upon hour in discussion with me as we continuously discuss the problems facing our clients and industry. His perspective has helped elevate how I view our work from merely earning a paycheck to how we can positively impact as many people as possible.

Website: https://www.lblgroup.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnsbro/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhansbrough/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/john_hansbro

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK7YrcSYvZnLwyLwfd1ZrhA

Image Credits
Liza Avancena, Jim Claytor