
Case Study: A Secretary Died Avoiding a $1,500 Deductible. Wisconsin Built Something So It Would Never Happen Again.
Relocalizing Health with Dave ChaseShow Notes
In 2011, Patrick Blackholder was the CFO and COO at Rice Lake Area School District in northwest Wisconsin. Facing a mandated budget cut, he built a $1,500 deductible into the health plan. It seemed reasonable. It seemed responsible. A secretary came to his office. Her husband was out of work. Bills had stacked up. She said plainly: I cannot afford $1,500. I will not use it. Two years later, she died of cancer. She had avoided care until it was too late. Patrick said it as directly as a person...
More from Relocalizing Health with Dave Chase
Welcome to Relocalizing Health. In this episode, Dave Chase sits down with Brian Adesso, Director of Business Services for the Menasha Joint School District and President of the Employer Healthcare Cooperative of Wisconsin (EHCW), to explore how a group of Wisconsin employers, including school districts and private companies, joined forces to fight skyrocketing healthcare costs. Together, they created a cooperative model that now covers over 23,000 people and has cut out-of-pocket expenses fo...
Welcome back to Relocalizing Health with Dave Chase. In this episode, Dave explores how communities can reclaim control over their healthcare dollars, drawing inspiration from cooperative models both in American history and abroad. Only about 15.5 cents of every healthcare dollar actually reach clinicians, with much of the money leaving local communities. He shares stories of towns and employers across the U.S. building local, community-owned health plans, without waiting for Congress or fede...
Welcome back to Relocalizing Health. In this episode, host Dave Chase sits down with Charles Marohn, founder of Strong Towns and renowned author, to explore what it truly means for a town to be "strong." Drawing analogies from the built environment and decades of on-the-ground civic work, Chuck shares how robust communities rely not just on fiscal sustainability or infrastructure, but on engaged citizens who are empowered to solve problems collaboratively. Together, they dive into stories of ...
Welcome to another episode of Relocalizing Health. Today, we explore how something as simple as rethinking medical imaging can spark a transformation in employer-sponsored healthcare, creating real wins for employees, employers, and communities alike. Host Dave Chase is joined by Dr. Cristin A. Dickerson, a radiologist and founder of Green Imaging, whose innovative approach has brought bundled transparent pricing to imaging services in thousands of communities across America. Together, they d...
Welcome to Relocalizing Health. In this episode, Dave Chase explores the powerful connection between neighborhood cohesion and health with guest Seth Kaplan, author of Fragile Neighborhoods. Over recent decades, American communities have suffered from declining local relationships, and with no meaningful incentive to make neighborhoods better, both public and private institutions have unintentionally worked in silos, often leaving health outcomes and the social fabric itself worse off. But th...