The Angry Biller
Welcome to the angry biller.
A show where we explore the people and the businesses behind-the-scenes of healthcare, those men and women that are the catalysts that allow providers to concentrate on delivering exceptional patient care.
The Angry Biller
Ep 30 - Mastering Modern Insurance Strategies with Boris Garipov
Embark on a riveting journey with Boris Garipov, the mastermind behind Covered 365, as he recounts his inspiring story of immigrating to the U.S. in 2008 and finding his calling in the insurance industry. Through chance and a single cold call, Boris transitioned from life and health insurance to the intricate world of commercial lines. He underscores the pivotal role of mentorship and education in navigating this industry. Boris candidly discusses the importance of consumer education, especially in property and casualty insurance, while weighing the impact of digital giants like Geico and Progressive on traditional insurance selling. His insights offer a fresh perspective on fostering client relationships and the invaluable worth of comprehensive coverage, especially when it comes to referrals.
We also tackle the pressing challenges within the Florida auto insurance market, where Boris highlights the soaring rates and rising issues of uninsured vehicles and fraudulent claims. He shares a remarkable tale of saving a client $25,000, exemplifying the power of personalized service in insurance. Additionally, our discussion branches into the critical need for cyber liability and property insurance, especially for businesses dealing with sensitive information. Drawing on real-world examples, we illustrate how tailored insurance strategies can protect and sustain businesses against modern risks. This episode offers a treasure trove of insights and practical tips for both personal and business insurance needs, promising listeners a comprehensive understanding of this dynamic industry.
Boris Garipov
954-982-0202
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Josh Fertel
00:04
Welcome to the Angry Biller, a show where we explore the people and the businesses behind the scenes of healthcare those men and women that are the catalysts that allow providers to concentrate on delivering exceptional patient care. Welcome to the Angry Biller. My name is Josh Fertel, I'm the owner of J3 Medical Billing and I am your host. We are here at the Visuals by Momo studios. The one thing I always talk about with practices is insurance making sure that they're covered, making sure that practices have everything that they need so that all they have to do is concentrate on patient care and not have to worry about the things that go on behind the scenes. A big part of that is malpractice, liability insurance and all the things that come with running a practice. Very happy today, covered 365,. The founder, Boris Garipov, is here with us. Hey Boris, hey Josh, how are you doing today? Doing well and you Good, good. I definitely want to talk about all the different things that we do to help businesses in general, but let's get to know you a little bit. Tell us your story, sure?
Boris Garipov
01:09
Absolutely. I immigrated to the United States in 2008 when people would tell me that you came in the very worst time Financially, but for me it was still an opportunity Right, fast forward a year and a half. I get a random call call from someone trying to sell me life insurance. Okay, and that was absolutely novel concept for me. Okay, but I liked it. And then it sounded a little too good to be true. So I've looked into that and I realized that's an amazing thing.
01:45
It's a fantastic product and it's real, it's not a scam. So I decided to give it a try and see if I can make it as an insurance agent. So since 2011, I've been in the insurance industry, From life and health I refocused to property and casualty. Past five years I've been focused on particularly just commercial lines.
Josh Fertel
02:08
I've never heard that before Somebody actually went and changed their career because of a cold call Perhaps. So why did you make the switch from life to health to commercial so?
Boris Garipov
02:21
it took me a little while to get a job where I could have my insurance license sponsored Okay, and I also really enjoyed the fact that I was getting paid salary as I'm being trained and somebody sponsoring my life. Not every place is like that Right, and it's great. I'm a great learner. I can learn on my own, but at the same time, when you have a mentor, you have a base that you can just go back to and draw some more information, more knowledge from them.
02:50
So, I started at the bank, they kept promising that they're going to send me for licensing. Meanwhile I had to work a couple of shifts at the bar waiting for my life insurance license and my security licenses Gotcha Training to be scheduled. That never happened. I quit my job on the way home I get a call from a friend of mine who tells me hey, there's an agency right by your house, an all-state agency. They're looking for someone.
Josh Fertel
03:20
Okay.
Boris Garipov
03:21
Go meet with them right now. So I was interviewed maybe within an hour after I quit my job at the bank. I got a job offer immediately, and so that was Saturday. On Monday I already started at Allstate and in a couple of days I've been already in my class for property and casualty, and then I just realized the overall need for insurance. Well, life insurance is a great product. I think people just lack education. I think at some point it might be almost a mandatory product for everybody. Oh, interesting. But property and casualty, I mean you own a property, if you have a mortgage, you need to have property insurance. If you own a vehicle, you must have liability insurance. So it's an easier sell and it's also a lot more protection that goes around.
Josh Fertel
04:12
But don't you think the education is still not there? Like I know, I have to have homeowner's insurance I don't know what kind.
Boris Garipov
04:19
Absolutely, the education is the crucial moment.
Josh Fertel
04:41
The education is the crucial moment and right now, over the years, I see that the rep of insurance agents and insurance companies keeps going down, and primarily because there is no agent not enough agents that would offer quality information to their insurance. Do you believe that because you can just click on Geico and Progressive online and there's really no need for an agent, that this lack of education is there?
Boris Garipov
04:56
Yes and no.
Josh Fertel
04:56
Okay.
Boris Garipov
04:57
So some opinions in the society about the younger generation. I'm 37, so whenever I agree, younger generation Right. Society about the younger generation I'm 37, so whenever I hear Younger generation, right. But you know, we got people that are in their 20s who are just getting their first vehicle and they might prefer to go online rather than speak to a real agent. Right, and they might not get good information because, sure, the internet today it's more of a marketing tool, right?
05:23
And when you search for the answer you much. Your entire first page of Google is going to be filled with lead generation websites, rather than insurance broker giving you information that you need.
Josh Fertel
05:37
And I would assume that the logical thing would be that somebody's going to just pick the cheapest policy, absolutely and certainly not necessarily. I mean, auto is one thing, but when you're talking about homeowners, that's a big thing. Right To just go for the cheapest policy. What's the best way for you to work with somebody? Let's say they find you online. What's your conversation like with them? Let's say, for homeowners, just to start there.
Boris Garipov
06:01
Well, I don't really sell any personal lines at this moment, but if and I actually don't have online presence I work primarily with referrals and I'm very picky. So let's talk about liability then, right, yeah, so I'm being a picky agent. I want to work with people that understand the value, or at least open to hear me out so I can explain them the value, Because, at the end of the day, if I don't offer the right product and I just sell someone a piece of paper for a couple thousand dollars, it's not going to help them.
Josh Fertel
06:35
No. And it opens me for a potential loss, it could backfire on you All right. So tell me I'm a doctor, right, I have a practice, I need liability, I need malpractice. How's that conversation go?
Boris Garipov
06:49
Absolutely Well, dr Josh. How long you've been practicing?
Josh Fertel
06:57
A couple of years, three years.
Boris Garipov
06:59
A couple of years, so is this your first time starting independent practice.
Josh Fertel
07:03
Yes.
Boris Garipov
07:04
Okay, great. Well, there's one good thing about being new doctor going independent that when you just start generally your insurance, your professional liability insurance, which is also called malpractice insurance- is a little cheaper because you don't have that many patients Right, and, especially if you're one of the newer doctors, you're more likely to follow all the rules and guidelines, while they're still relative with actually your memory.
Josh Fertel
07:34
Okay.
Boris Garipov
07:36
What do you expect your gross income to be for the next 12 months? $500,000. $500,000. Fantastic. Are you planning to be on your own or are you going to have any support staff?
Josh Fertel
07:50
Well, I need to have support staff. I need to have somebody at the front desk, I need to have a medical assistant and a controller.
Boris Garipov
07:57
Okay, so from the entire team, you possibly an assistant, somebody else might be providing something related to medical services. Yes, if they're going to be a contractor for you, they will have to maintain their own professional liability insurance.
Josh Fertel
08:15
Okay.
Boris Garipov
08:16
But you can also have them as a full-time or part-time employee on W-2, and we can include them in your malpractice insurance. That's what I want to do. Just make sure they have all proper certifications that they're required to have.
Josh Fertel
08:29
Okay, no, that's perfect, and so that's how a conversation would start.
Boris Garipov
08:33
Yes, it's pretty much interviewing someone to see how they're going to set up their operations, where they see themselves in 12 months from now and what could be the wildest changes from the model they have in mind right now to where they're going to be a year from now.
Josh Fertel
08:54
And you have multiple liability carriers that you can choose from.
Boris Garipov
08:59
Yes, I work directly with probably a dozen of carriers. Some of them do write malpractice insurance, but I also have over a dozen of wholesale brokers. Those are usually my heavier artillery.
Josh Fertel
09:11
And how do you choose who to place where?
Boris Garipov
09:14
Well, I've worked with one of the best professional liability underwriters in the country. He's been recognized there. He is very well recognized in the insurance community and I trust their opinion. But at the same time I usually send my application to several carriers and I hope my brokers are not going to hear this one, but I send it to multiple carriers, multiple brokers, so then I can compare forms. Because insurance policy almost no one reads it.
Josh Fertel
09:46
Right.
Boris Garipov
09:47
It's going to be 80 pages, could be 100 pages, yep, and a lot of people, a little change in wording may make a big, big difference. Give me an example, absolutely, let's say that would be property coverage endorsed to malpractice insurance. Okay, but it might say specifically belonging to the, in short, which is the applicant in our case? The doctor, or it could be including, it could have some language, including leased equipment.
Josh Fertel
10:25
Right.
Boris Garipov
10:26
So imagine you're leasing an MRI machine, right, which could be hundreds of thousands of dollars, yes, and you think it's included, right. But then you have this little difference in wording where it specifically excludes leased equipment, or it might define power surge as something else, like a shortcut or short circuit, or it could be anything anything and you know where to look for those things. Well, I do my best, right, I do my best to find the differences and find out which wording is the most inclusive.
Josh Fertel
11:03
Gotcha, Gotcha. No, that's great. I mean, that is exactly why you can't do this online. In my opinion, you can't do it online. Education is just so important, is just so important. A couple of shows ago, we in Florida we were talking about doctors going bare and using prepaid legal company. What's your experience with that? Why would somebody get liability if they can get this instead for half the price is what they're saying.
Boris Garipov
11:36
I'm not really familiar with prepaid legal, but it also assumes that my understanding it's probably a service type of product where they can just buy the defense.
Josh Fertel
11:48
Right, that's exactly right.
Boris Garipov
11:50
They're still liable for the settlement. Exactly Right. So if you're paying half the price of supposed insurance premium for only legal defense, why not just pay for the entire policy and have legal defense? And in case you lose the case, you're going to have this bucket of million dollar per claim limit.
Josh Fertel
12:13
I totally get it. I wanted to get opposing stories to it.
Boris Garipov
12:17
Insurance is always better, Doesn't matter If you look at the long-term. The reason why insurance is either required or highly, highly recommended, it's because if you stay in business for long enough, you're going to have a claim.
Josh Fertel
12:33
Gotcha.
Boris Garipov
12:33
So you might even say I'm a successful business owner because I've stayed in business for 10 years and I had five claims.
Josh Fertel
12:41
Right, right right.
Boris Garipov
12:42
You've just been in business for long enough. Yeah, still tired.
Josh Fertel
12:45
Right, gotcha, we're going to take a break here. When we come back.
12:48
I want to talk about cyber liability Absolutely.
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Josh Fertel
We're back with Boris at Covered 365. Tell me about some of the riders that you think these offices need.
Boris Garipov
13:31
Rider, it's a term used more for life insurance policies. Okay, now on commercial policies, property and casualty policies. That would be endorsements. Okay, so whenever you purchase a policy, you can just buy a basic product or you can load it with additional features and those features are basically added by endorsement.
Josh Fertel
13:52
Okay.
Boris Garipov
13:52
You're endorsing additional coverage or additional line to your existing policy. Now a couple of things that with malpractice insurance, you can have defense cost within the limit or outside of the limit. You can have additional riders, like cyber liability insurance, attached to it. You can have additional endorsement for having peer reviewed sessions if there is a claim, and there are several options, but the most important ones would be the defense cost.
14:31
You always want it outside. You always want it outside. You always want to have your limits to be separate. For example, you run your medical practice and you have three practitioners under you and you're purchasing a coverage with million-dollar occurrence, $3 million annual aggregate. You want to have those limits to be applied separately for each of your practitioners, versus just having one policy Right Now. This is going to be more expensive, sure. However, it's not going to be as much, right, and you're going to have a lot more coverage.
Josh Fertel
15:08
It's better to have the riders than separate policies. Absolutely, gotcha, absolutely.
Boris Garipov
15:12
It's better to have high premium than to go bankrupt.
Josh Fertel
15:17
That's true. That's true. Never heard it said that way, but it is true. You mentioned cyber liability. That's a big deal nowadays, especially in healthcare. It was a big hack. It was two big hacks this year, 2024. Talk about coverage there. Talk about what you think is necessary. I'm an outsourcing company. My company is an outsourced company for a provider, so I understand how important that it is. But give me your take on cyber liability and how it should be handled.
Boris Garipov
15:45
Cyber liability is a must in today's world. Pretty much if you're accepting payments over the phone, it means that you're inputting this payment information into some online portal in your computer.
15:59
Okay, if you're receiving any emails with payment information or sensitive information, so pretty much anything that goes over wireless networks or wired networks, any sort of information that can be stolen from you, gotcha, and you might be liable to your customers for securing that information properly. Right, that's when the cyber liability can step in and give you protection, and some cyber liabilities generally come with lots of additional endorsements. Okay, and I'll give you a very great example. So recently I had one of my clients that about six months ago one of my clients calls me and says hey, do I have cyber liability insurance? Oh, I review this policy. No, well, you have a tiny little endorsement, but cyber liability is pretty affordable. Let's get you the quote and maybe it's worth it for you to take a separate policy. That would be a great option. Okay, we get him a policy for $1,300.
Josh Fertel
17:07
Right.
Boris Garipov
17:08
Next day he is being defrauded Right. We don't know until about two weeks after that. He got defrauded the very next day after we bound the policy. Wow 10 days after Carrier gives him $250,000 check for online fraud. Gives him a check, but that check was for. So somebody basically committed a fraud and stole money from his account.
Josh Fertel
17:39
Okay, so they took money from his account. Okay, gotcha.
Boris Garipov
17:40
Yes, and that was covered under. I believe they've classified it as social media Phishing, not phishing, but it's basically they just kind of copied his profile somehow.
Josh Fertel
17:55
Wow, got into his account, gotcha, a lot of the electronic records that doctors use. There's a separate pay where patients can pay either through email or through text. Would that be covered? It's usually, like I said, a separate company that's doing that Third-party platform.
Boris Garipov
18:16
Right, there you go.
Josh Fertel
18:17
So would that be covered under their policy or would that be a policy that would be that the other company, the third party, would need?
Boris Garipov
18:24
Generally, they would have coverage as well.
Josh Fertel
18:26
Okay.
Boris Garipov
18:27
However, if you want to know what type of coverage they carry, they're probably not going to give you a copy of their policy, Right? They're probably not going to give you a copy of their policy, Right? And it's always. You should always consider, okay well, what if I? Send them that information by email, but I send them something else with my email.
Josh Fertel
18:47
Right.
Boris Garipov
18:48
Let's say you got hacked and now every email you transmit sends some sort of a code, additional code that might compromise their computer, right right, so might compromise their computer, right right. So you never know your vendors, your partners, they might have something but, you don't want to rely on them for multiple reasons. One we just covered, the other one. Let's say they have a massive issue, right, and now there are thousands of people that have damages and they all go after them. However, they don't have enough coverage for all of them.
19:22
And you're standing down the line.
Josh Fertel
19:24
Gotcha, gotcha, so you can't rely on anybody else. Nope, and I know you're not a lawyer and I'm not a lawyer, so whatever business associate agreement, probably people are going to look past that and say we're not worried about that, we're going to see you anyway. Yeah Right, the things that are in an office you know for commercial property, whether a doctor's office or anything else the furniture or in a doctor's office is an MRI machine or something big like that. How are those things handled? What kind of policies do they get for those?
Boris Garipov
19:57
There would be property insurance. Okay, and that's something that you do. Yes, okay, and that's something that you do. Yes, okay, I do offer property insurance as a pretty common product, especially for um it, for any it's called business property. Uh, basically, anything that you will take with you if you move out from that office. Uh, everything is covered. One of the reasons I love this coverage because, especially if you're in a good building, if you're pretty sure that you're not going to be swept away by a hurricane, yes.
20:29
You can go when hurricane excluded, then your coverage is going to be very inexpensive. Okay, worry about theft. You worry about fire pipe burst, possibly flooding your unit, and a fantastic part about this coverage is that you can also, if you're buying property insurance, you can also buy business income. So, let's say, this beautiful studio burns down, right. But if there was property insurance in place for, let's say, $200,000? And a business income policy for another $100,000, limited to, let's say, a quarter of that limit per month.
Josh Fertel
21:10
Right.
Boris Garipov
21:11
It means that the owners of the studio will collect up to $25,000 per month until the studio is rebuilt or moved to another location and when they get all this new inventory set up and ready to roll.
Josh Fertel
21:24
Right, Okay. So let me ask you this. Let's say I have a piece of equipment in my office that is crucial, For example an MRI or an ultrasound and something happens to that wind damage, rain something, window breaks, something happens like that. I'm sure that would be covered by insurance, but that's definitely affecting my income.
Boris Garipov
21:47
Absolutely.
Josh Fertel
21:47
Right.
Boris Garipov
21:48
And so that would be business income. You can use your property insurance with business income to recoup some of the losses.
Josh Fertel
21:56
Gotcha, so that's good to know Now another good note about very specialized equipment.
Boris Garipov
22:04
Right, I always recommend as much as I love selling insurance and making money. One of the things is I always look out for my customer. Okay, so with specialized equipment like that there could be particular vendors. They're not really operating even just as a normal insurance company Got you. They might have like a group product for everybody. Buying X, y and Z machine. Oh, got you They'll just give you the coverage for only a fraction of the cost. Oh, that's interesting, but you're not going to have an option for your business income with them.
Josh Fertel
22:41
Right, it just covers the cost of the machine.
Boris Garipov
22:43
Right, but it's one of the very good ways to pretty much offset your costs, right?
Josh Fertel
22:51
So we've talked about property. We've talked about liability. We've talked about the equipment. What are?
Boris Garipov
22:57
we missing? Big question right now in Florida is auto.
Josh Fertel
23:00
It's auto.
Boris Garipov
23:00
So everybody already knows that Florida has been a pretty tough market for property insurance for quite some time. But there were very good changes in the past 12 months. We actually back in February we had 11 or 12 carriers apply to offer property insurance in Florida. But for the past six months people have been complaining about auto insurance rates skyrocketing.
23:26
Yeah they have. Yes, commercial auto carriers are leaving the state. They don't want to do business here because we have too many people that own vehicles or possess vehicles that don't have coverage in place Right. So, and unfortunately, we have a lot of fraudulent cases where people just claim Welcome to South Florida.
Josh Fertel
23:52
Yeah.
Boris Garipov
23:53
Personal injury claims left and right, right. So auto insurance has been a hot topic. So auto insurance has been a hot topic. I don't think right now there's no light in the end of the tunnel as of this moment, but probably going to go through another year of high rates until something changes Right and then we'll see some changes on the insurance side. We might first have to see some legislations on the insurance side.
24:24
We might first have to see some legislations, maybe there'll be some requirement of higher limits versus then currently $10,000 for property damage.
Josh Fertel
24:30
Right, right, right. You told us a story about the $250,000 for the cyber liability. Give me another good story where the work that you did just paid off.
Boris Garipov
24:40
Good story, one that worked, that I did, paid off, you mean when somebody had to use that insurance policy. Yes, well, I can tell you something without a claim where my work paid off. Oh, even better. So, if you remember, my logo says Covered 365 Private Client Insurance Agency. Okay, I strive to offer really personal touch to clients' needs.
Josh Fertel
25:05
Understood.
Boris Garipov
25:06
And I insure some medium-sized contractors that are really not there yet where they're going to be an attractive customer for giants like Brown Brown or Arthur J Gallagher agencies.
Josh Fertel
25:25
Okay.
Boris Garipov
25:26
However, they still need that type of service Right. So I have several clients who I manage insurance for and very often I negotiate with their vendors, with their clients, on the insurance requirements. And the just recent success, from September 30th, had one of my clients renewing several lines of coverage general liability, excess liability, workers' compensation, commercial auto and one of the requirements was that they would extend their excess liability of $5 million to cover not only general liability claims but also automobile claims.
26:04
Nice, 20 minutes on the phone calling different departments at one of the very well-known company. Yeah Well, they work for Amazon.
Josh Fertel
26:16
Oh.
Boris Garipov
26:17
So I got to the right person.
Josh Fertel
26:19
Right.
Boris Garipov
26:20
And I explained the situation with my insured that the exposure is not really there. Right and if they would extend this coverage, it's going to cost them almost $25,000 in addition, but there is no exposure.
Josh Fertel
26:35
Gotcha.
Boris Garipov
26:35
We went back and forth several times but they ended up giving the exemption for this client. I love it and saving additional $25,000 a client. I love it and saving additional $25,000 a year.
Josh Fertel
26:44
That's great, that's a great story, saving somebody 25,000 years, especially when they're just a regular business person. Exactly, that's a big deal. A few.
Boris Garipov
26:53
Yeah, and these stories are pretty common in my practice. But as far as insurance paying out, some people have a feeling that, hey, I've been paying insurance for 10 years and I've never had to use it. Why is it so expensive? Well, it's great that you never had to use it, and my job is to give you tools that you never have to use it. I can help you to put together safety manual reporting forms, clock in, clock out forms. Tell me what you need. I'm going to help you If I don't know how to do it. I have extensive network of underwriters, risk management people that I can tap into, professionals, just general professionals in all spheres. Tell me what you need help with. I'm going to find out the answers for you and we'll put together a good package. Yeah, is there a particular industry that you need help with? I'm going to find out the answers for you and we'll put together a good package.
Josh Fertel
27:43
Yeah, is there a particular industry that you like working with?
Boris Garipov
27:48
I do like construction. Okay, it's something that I've been interested in since my childhood. I like to do something with my hands, I like to build, I like tall buildings, skyscrapers, right. So kind of naturally gravitated to writing a lot of contracted business. Oh very good, but right now I'm actually learning a lot more about healthcare sphere. Oh good, so one of the industries that is absolutely recession-proof.
Josh Fertel
28:18
Absolutely.
Boris Garipov
28:19
People always get sick and everybody's getting older. Everybody's getting older. Federal budget will keep expanding to pay for all the services. So those businesses are not going anywhere and I'd rather have doctors, medical professionals, stay focused on their main thing and let someone like me to handle their insurance headaches.
Josh Fertel
28:44
That's the whole reason we're sitting here is for guys like me and you, who are here to handle the headaches, so they can concentrate on patient care. That's exactly why we're sitting here. So, yes, I appreciate that. How does somebody get in touch with you?
Boris Garipov
28:56
They can reach out to me by email. It's boris at covered-365.com, covered-365.com, right, where they can just call me or shoot me a text message at my cell, which is 954-982-0202. That's awesome. Say it again 954-982-0202.
Josh Fertel
29:20
Okay, boris, if I had a magic wand and I gave it to you and it can help you with your business or the way insurance is handled in general, what would you do with it?
Boris Garipov
29:30
Make another 50 clones of myself.
Josh Fertel
29:33
Oh, okay, that's a good one why.
Boris Garipov
29:36
Because I could do thousand times more work. Okay, so I would have partners like myself. There you go.
Josh Fertel
29:43
That's a good answer. I appreciate you coming on. This is a topic that I've been wanting to tackle with you for a while now, so I'm glad that you were able to find the time for us. Hopefully you'll come back again and visit us as things progress, especially in the cyber world. Sounds like a good plan to me. You got it. Thanks, boris. Thank you, josh. Thank you for listening today. Please follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn, and you can check us out at theangrybiller.com.