Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 339: Rethinking Healthcare Power: What Happens When Patients Negotiate

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes Katherine Clark with Frederick Insurance Brokers a good neighbor?

What if the fastest way to lower your medical bills is to stop leading with your insurance card? We sit down with Katherine Clark of Frederick Insurance Brokers to unpack the simple, legal strategies that flip the power dynamic in your favor—without sacrificing care. Katherine’s approach is practical and repeatable: ask for self-pay pricing even if you’re insured, use price transparency laws to compare hospitals, and bring market rates from tools like MD Save to the negotiating table. She explains how to file your own claims so cash-paid services still count toward your deductible, and why calm, specific questions at the ER can turn a $39,000 estimate into a reasonable, itemized plan you actually control.

We explore how a family-run brokerage partners with individuals, self-employed professionals, families, and small groups to choose the right coverage—on or off the ACA Marketplace. Katherine breaks down the real differences between plans, from deductibles and networks to formulary pitfalls, and shows how a lean monthly premium paired with smart self-pay choices can beat a pricey plan that still leaves you exposed. She also shares clear scripts for front-desk conversations, tips for comparing CPT-coded prices, and a checklist for getting diagnoses and treatment plans before you sign.

Along the way, you’ll hear candid stories: a surgical quote dropped from $23,000 to around $11,000 using MD Save as a benchmark, an MRI reduced to a few hundred dollars for a high-deductible patient, and an ER visit that ended with the right care at a fraction of the initial sticker shock. If you want high-value healthcare, better coverage decisions, and fewer billing surprises, this conversation gives you the tools and the confidence to ask for what you need.

Subscribe for more local stories from operators who measure what matters. If this conversation helped you rethink your healthcare choices, share it with a friend who needs it and leave a quick review so more neighbors can find smart, fair care.

To learn more about Frederick Insurance Brokers go to:
 🌐https://fredrickinsurancebrokers.com/

Frederick Insurance Brokers
📞972-375-0507

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of an insurance broker? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Katherine Clark, with Frederick Insurance Brokers. Catherine, how are you today? Hey, I'm great.

SPEAKER_01:

Sophia, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm also great. Now we are excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start off by telling our listeners just a little bit about your company?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Frederick Insurance Brokers is a family-owned business. I work the business with both of my sons, one full-time and one part-time. I have been in the business since 2007. So this was before we had Affordable Care Act and otherwise known as the Marketplace. And what we do is just we pride ourselves in being a partner with our clients, whether they're an individual or a family or a small business, to really guide them to know what's out there and you know help them in their specific situation. So there are there are lots, it's quite a lot to navigate, and of course, there are a lot of changes. So it helps to have a broker, even if it's just to validate that you have a good plan.

SPEAKER_02:

Most definitely. Now, how did you all originally get started with this business idea?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, interestingly enough, I can't say that I have a warm and fuzzy story about it, but maybe an interesting one. I uh had moved here from Maryland, was married. Anyway, I found myself single with a three-year-old and a newborn, and I was looking for a new career and uh wanted something that had some flexibility. Then ended up in this business, but honestly, it was like divine intervention, and um, it wasn't always easy because you know back then the business was very different than it is now, and it was more male-dominated, if you will. And if you don't know the ropes, you can get taken advantage of. And so I was always like a little skeptical, but finally at one point my son joined me, and that kind of helped me solidify that I was going to remain in the business, and I made that determination at that point I was going to be the best there is at it. So I think I've accomplished that. People have to check out my Google reviews. So that I don't consider myself your normal broker. I'm more, you know, I'm not an order taker, let's put it that way. Like I said in the beginning, I'm we kind of partner up and just really try to look out for our clients' best interest.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that is amazing. Now, being in your industry, what is the most common myth or misconception you typically come across?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh, Sophia, there are so many. So I'll think of a couple that kind of come to mind. Um, one that's like a pet peeve for me is, you know, we're all so used to just handing over our insurance card. Um, when we go to the provider, they're like, oh, that's the first question they ask. But what I like for people to know is that it's nobody's business whether or not you have insurance. Okay. So you're the one that pays for it. So you're in charge of it. Literally, you can even file your own claims. People don't realize that, right? Um, so when some you don't have to turn it over, is my point. You can say, What's your self-paid price? You can say, I don't have insurance. Um, and you know, because most of us know that if we don't have insurance, we get a better deal. So if you say, Hey, I don't have insurance, it's like I said, it's not really any of their business. And um sometimes what the provider will say is, well, if you have insurance, you can't do self-pay. Well, that's not true either. Okay. So I just um it's just a way to leverage. So you don't have if you have a high deductible, um, an example might be uh I work with a lot of teachers and they have high deductible plans. One of them might need an MRI and they're they're stressed out because they think they have to pay$2,500 because their deductible is$5,000. They haven't met it. The truth is you can get an MRI done for like$400 or less. So I always tell them, like, go in, do the self-pay, pay for it, file your own claim, let it go, you know, apply it towards your deductible. So there's a those types of things that people don't know. So that's one myth, I guess you could say. Another one um is that everything is negotiable in life, you know, we all know that. But we get there's certain industries where we just sort of go along with whatever the attorney tells you, even though you're paying the attorney, right? And this it goes the same thing for your medical provider. And um so just know that everything is negotiable. There's actually a law that was put in place, I believe it was January of 2021, that where providers have to be uh transparent with their pricing. And literally you can go up and down, you know, there's an area where I live, there's four or five hospitals up and down the main road, and you can go to each one and get different pricing. So I have some resources that I use. The one I use the most is called MD Save M, like medical doctor. I'll give you like a really quick example so that you understand how this works. I had a person who had a broken ankle and he needed a plate, and he calls me a plate in his ankle. So he calls me from the doctor's office and he says, Hey, they want$23,000 for this. I looked it up on MD Save and I said, Hey, it's an$11,000 surgery. That's what in his area, that was the going rate, because it'll show you regional and national. So he turned around basically and said to the doctor what I told him to say. And the doctor literally, they literally said, We'll do the MD Safe price. So if you have knowledge, they're not going to take advantage of you, right? So that's those are kind of two that come to mind. Um the other, the other thing that I would I think is a really good information for people to have is that when you go into say an emergency room and you know, don't get freaked out, like they have a legal obligation to diagnose you. Okay, so I had a couple with a child, a two-year-old that had a swollen knee and he couldn't walk and he it was painful, and he went to an emergency room at one of the hospitals, and he calls me and they he told me they want$39,000. And I'm like, Because, in my opinion, they prey on your emotions. And so I explained to him, hey, you have a legal right to a diagnosis and um and a treatment plan, and they'll give you the price, and then you can say, okay, or you can leave, right? And in this particular case, he ended up spending$2,000. And so what I said to him was, like, look, your child's leg is not broken, we know that, right? So the first thing they're probably gonna do is an MRI, you know. And so we kind of had that discussion, but but so when you when people go into any situation, don't sign anything. Don't sign what if he had signed and said, okay, I'll pay$39,000, then he's kind of stuck, right? Right. So just like a couple things that come to my mind, the things that I've learned since you know 2007. And um, I have those conversations with people every day, and I you know, teach my clients like, don't don't accept just what they say as gospel. Ask questions, and and every time because if you don't, they're just gonna bill you whatever, you know. So those are the kind of those are just the type that's just a few because there's a lot. I work with people, like even if I have people call me even that don't have a policy with me, because I'm sort of known for being like an advocate, and I kind of say, well, here's what you need to do. So those are a couple, a couple things that I would say. Um, and uh I guess the another really big thing is that there are plans outside of Affordable Care Act. There are PPO plans available outside of the marketplace, and a lot of people don't know that, especially younger people because they've only been around, right? Since they haven't been around a long time.

SPEAKER_02:

So wow. Well, thank you for sharing that with us, Kathy. Now we are almost out of time today, but before we go, let's switch ears for a second. Um, we know marketing is the heart of every business. Who are your target clients or customers, and how do you currently attract them?

SPEAKER_01:

I work with uh individuals, specifically self-employed. They need a lot of help, families and small groups, you know, like under 15 people, small groups. My marketing is primarily through um, you know, my Google reviews. People see and learn about me there, and really referral because I've been doing this for so long. You know, I also have a lot of people who refer me from their P and their their whoever they get their auto insurance from. So those are my primary sources. There's lots of them, but they're the primary ones.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, Catherine, have you ever thought of having your own podcast before?

SPEAKER_01:

I have, but you know, a long time ago, but you know, I don't know if I'm like, I don't know about being on camera and social media and all of that, if it would really make a difference or not. So it's it's sort of in the back of my mind because I do feel like I'm a little bit different than the average person. It's just seems uh like quite the undertaking.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Catherine, what our listeners really want to know today is where can they go to learn more about Frederick Insurance Brokers?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, obviously, you can go to the website, Frederick Insurance Brokers. We do have a LinkedIn and an uh Instagram and a Facebook presence. Um, the phone number you can text or email from the website, even set up an appointment. So that's probably the best place to go to Frederick Insurance Brokers.com. And just remember that Frederick doesn't have an E in the middle.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Catherine, I really appreciate you being on the show today, and we wish you and your business the best moving forward. Thank you. Appreciate it, Sophia.

SPEAKER_01:

You have a great day.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Frisco dot com. That's GNP Frisco dot com or call four six nine two two two two two two two two two two two two two one nine three four four four four four five.