Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: CEO Dennis Pullin Talks Virtua Health, Affordable Healthcare, NYC Nurse Strike + More

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INTERVIEW: CEO Dennis Pullin Talks Virtua Health, Affordable Healthcare, NYC Nurse Strike + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Every day a week ago, clicks up the Breakfast Club.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: You don't finish for y'all done morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Everybody is the DJ Envy just hilarious, Charlemagne to God.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: We are the breakfast Club lawl the ruses here as well.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: We got a special guest in the building. We have
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: the President and CEO of Virtual Health, Dennis pulling Head.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Welcome, brother, thanks for having me.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: How you feeling man good?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: What is Virtual Health, my brother?
• 0:25
  Speaker 5: Virtual Health is an academic health center health system in
• 0:29
  Speaker 5: South Jersey. So we have about four hundred locations taking
• 0:32
  Speaker 5: care of the people of South Jersey and Philadelphia, Delaware.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: Dope, they mean taking care of people.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Is this for people that don't know it's this older
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: people or this people that just have breaking down a
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: little bit.
• 0:44
  Speaker 5: We provide health care for the community, so no matter
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: what you need from birth to hospice so and everything
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: in between.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: We take care of all that needs our care.
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: Now a little bit.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I mean that's that's needed now more than ever, especially
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: with the way that you know they've got it the healthcare.
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what we're saying.
• 0:59
  Speaker 5: You know it is is and particularly in the communities
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: that you guys all represent and sort of communicate with.
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: It's even more important to me. I don't have the
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: audience that you have. When I say y'all, I'm talking
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: about the people that tune into listening to you, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: so that that community is very important to me. It's
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: important to our organization.
• 1:25
  Speaker 6: I was glad to see I didn't know that you
• 1:27
  Speaker 6: were a black man in his position, but glad to
• 1:30
  Speaker 6: see it because I know a lot of what you
• 1:31
  Speaker 6: guys focus on is early detection.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: We do.
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: You know the thing that a lot of people don't realize.
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: Of the top five largest health systems in the country,
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: three of them are run by black men, and so
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: we have a special affinity to try and do what's right,
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: particularly in light of everything else that's going on in
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: the country.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: We're committed to taking care of our community.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: I was going to ask what everything that's going on,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: like she kind of mentioned, with the health industry, what
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: should people do right?
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: So, you know, there's so many different scenarios.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 4: You hear from people that they go get a surgery
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: in December.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Right now, when they go back for postop in January,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: the insurance is no longer covered by that hospital, So
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: now they have to find new doctors or not covered
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: at all, or they can't afford it, and they're saying
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: that their surgery or whatever they have is not necessarily
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: insurance as a coverage, so they have to go through
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: the emergency room.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: So what do you tell those people in those individuals
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: that are going through all the things that I've been taking.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: You ask a great question. You know, if I think
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: the number one problem in healthcare today is health literacy,
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: is people understanding how to navigate the system, understanding how
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: to take care of their bodies.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, you're a car guy.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: Most people spend more time focusing on the maintenance of
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: their vehicles than they do their own bodies. And so
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: people showing up at the emergency room, which could be
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: you know, fifteen hundred, two thousand dollars visit when it's
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: something they may have been able to do through a
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: Virtue will care or through a primary care at forty
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: dollars to sixty dollars. So it's really about trying to
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: educate people on how to better navigate a very complex system.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: How do you ensure you're showing up with purpose every
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: day and not just not just treating us like a business.
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: First of all, you got to try and better understand
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: the people that we're taking care of and understanding what
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: their needs are and demonstrate that we're going to be
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: there for them when they need us, how they need us,
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: and where they need us, and being consistent. You know,
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: a lot she was asking about taking care of certain
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: population and black men in particular. You know, there's a
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: lot of distrust in healthcare and it's warranted.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: You know, our.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: History has told us that it's certain individuals don't get
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: treated the same. And so for me, you know, I
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: try and create an environment where we have cultural competencies,
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: where people understand the needs of certain communities and we
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: show up and we do what's right and not all ways,
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: you know, what's best for the moment.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: How can they get that information you talk about, you
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: know people should understand more, But where can people get
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: that information from? And usually it's you know, it's bottom
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: of the ninth and they can't look for that information.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: It's something's happening now and I need to get it fixed.
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: Yeah, because you know, if you look at it, black
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: women have a much higher incidence of death from cancer,
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: particularly breast cancer.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Not because cancer shows up more in black women.
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: It's because they get diagnosed at such a later stage
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: than the disease have already progressed.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: So how do you prevent that from happening.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: You know, there's more information now than ever, but the
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: problem is there's also a lot of misinformation.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: So finding a reliable source, finding somebody you.
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: Can trust, you know, not on TikTok, but maybe a
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: community physician, having a relationship with a health system like
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: a Virtua or many others.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: That's what's important. Educate yourself.
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: You guys have these clinics or like these communities right
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: where it's just like people don't even got to come
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: in just to be seen. It's just like y'all can
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: come and have a conversation about certain things in certain areas.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: We do.
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  Speaker 5: And what's really important is that we have over four
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: hundred locations throughout South Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware. We open our
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: arms to anybody that needs our care and want to
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: come to see us. The problem is not everybody can
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: get to us, and so we have to extend a
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: hand to those that can't, and so educating, reaching out
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: our community programs. You know, we take care of a
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: community in the city of Camden, New Jersey, we also
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: take care of the community of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: They are six miles apart, but yet there is a
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: seventeen year difference in life expectancy because of all of
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: those issues that we call social determinants of health that
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: event people from getting to us. You know, transportation, education,
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: you know, stable housing, All of those things impact the
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: person's well being.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Why don't people That's the one thing that buzzed me
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: out about the healthcare system, like they don't ever factor
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: into socioeconomic issues, like you know, they'll just say Camden,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: New Jersey has the highest rates of this and the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: highest rates of that. But it's just like, do you
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: know what Camden, New Jersey is, and what's the reason
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: behind that, behind behind that?
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: And that's what we call social determinants of health. Listen,
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: about eighty percent of your health status is determined by
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: your zip code and not by your genetic for that
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: very reason that you just talked about. You know, when
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: you don't have all let's keep talking about Camden for
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: a moment. It's considered a food desert. Don't have a
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: grocery store, and so food is medicine, and so if
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: you're not eating well, you're not taking care of yourself,
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: it's gonna manifest itself. And poor health, you know, not
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: having stable housing, not having education, and transportation, all of
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: those things impact a person's mental health and physical health.
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: And so for me and others like me that are
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: committed to like what I call creating communities of wellness,
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: you have to focus on those things. So what do
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: we do. We created and now have a mobile grocery store.
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: We initially converted a city transit bus into a mobile
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: grocery store. We now have been able to afford a
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: customized to actually mobile grocery stores where people can get healthy,
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: nutritious foods at a subsidized cost in those areas that
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: are considered food desert.
• 7:41
  Speaker 7: So it's kind of like Instacart, but way cheaper.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
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  Speaker 5: I've never put it that way, but yeah, it's exactly that.
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  Speaker 5: But this grocery store shows up at the same place
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: every week, at the senior homes, at community centers, at
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: low income housings, every single week time.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: And what you're saying is so true because even if
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: you look at it on the flip side, like neighborhoods
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: with high socioeconomic status, they usually like like show like
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: incidents like people go get screenings more for things, and
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: people have been in the doctor war for things.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: So it shows that it's location it is.
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: And so what we've tried to do when I mentioned
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: extending our hand, not only do we have the mobile
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: grocery store, we have a mobile pediatric unit that goes
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: to these vulnerable areas to provide pediatric care. We have
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: a mobile cancer screening unit that goes out and do
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: mimmographies for women that can't afford or can't get to us.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: And so you're right, sometimes you have to meet people
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: where they are and take the care to them. You know,
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: the misnomer so often as people sometimes look at life
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: trauma as character flaws and sort of avoid it, whereas
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: I see it as an opportunity for us to do
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: things differently.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: I was gonna ask, you know a lot of times
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: people feel like.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: Hospitals in the quote unquote hood are worse than hospitals
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: in different areas. They feel like doctors in the hood
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: you'll get better treatment of different areas. What do you
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: say to those because some of your hospitals and your
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: care centers are in the.
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: Hood that should be as they should be. But I
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: will tell you, unfortunately, some of that is true.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Really.
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: Sometimes you know, people show up with their own biases,
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: and that when I'm talking about people, some of the staff.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: We have to educate folks, and so at Virtue we
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: do unconscious biased training because there's this misnomer oftentimes when
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: some of us show up in emergency rooms that were
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: either drug seeking or our pain isn't as severe as
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: we make it out to be. And a lot of
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: that is because people have their bias about those individuals
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: that are coming in. And then the other part of
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: that urban carryer, it is tough, you know, because of
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: the social economics of it. You know, when you have
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: a community that unfortunately may not be able to afford insurance.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: And rely on the government as its payer.
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: People don't realize that the government is the largest payer
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: of health care. There is We always want to talk
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: about if we had a socialized medicine or one pay well.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: Right now, the government is the largest payer, and unfortunately
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: it's through Medicare and medicaid. Medicare pays US eighty five
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: cents on the dollar. Medicaid pays US roughly fifty five
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: cents on the dollar.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: And so that's at a loss.
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: And so it's difficult to have an ongoing you awn,
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: business people, to have an ongoing business enterprise when your
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: biggest payer pay you less than what your cost is.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: That's why I asked you the question earlier about how
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: do you ensure you showing up a purpose every day
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and not treat it, you know, just like a business.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Because you do have some of these hospitals that will
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: be in these you know, point distant franchise areas, and
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: when the people come in there, they treat them, you know,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: different based on if they got insurance or that.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Like, and they kind of already they're already assuming they don't.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: Have SANCE absolutely, And so why what do I do differently?
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: First of all, I have to make sure that my
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: organization understands the need of that community. And I know
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: it firsthand because I grew up in the community like
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: that on the West side of San Antonio.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: I make sure that my board reflects the community that
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: we serve.
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: You know, I have a fifteen member board. Five of
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: them are African American, you know, half of them are women.
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: And so we make sure that we bring that to
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: the table, that understanding that social consciousness and so the
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: care that we provide. We take care of the haves
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: and we take care of the have nots, and nobody
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: gets treated and.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: People who can.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Man, that's one thing I would say that I dislike
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: about about certain hospitals.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: When you go into the Oh my god, he was
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: with me, held your hand.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: I'm glad y'all, y'all shared that experience and I didn't
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: have to be there, So.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: I think that bothers me.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: I feel like when you go to the hospital, they
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: care more about insurance than the actual you know what
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, because they'll be like, yo, put it in
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: the chair, all right. I didn't need you to sign this,
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: that and the other, and no disrespect. My mind is
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: not on these people. My mind is on that person
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: that's crying. That's that's hurt, that's sick, that's that. And
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: that's the one thing that always bothers me. It's like
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: it's so quick to throw that paper in your in
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: your face and to worry about And I know we
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: all got a job, and I know it's a business,
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: but if my kid is crying on my wife, is
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: this or somebody's that, like, I feel like it's it's
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: not personal.
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: Enough, you know, I will agree and disagree, okay, because
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: I think in general, people that work in healthcare actually care.
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: They're there because most of us have a higher purpose.
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: It's not just about the money, it's not just about
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: the title. You absolutely absolutely want to take care of folks,
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: but there's a business side of it as well. And
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: you know, we have at Virtual, I have about sixteen
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: thousand employees that I have to be able to make
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: sure we have the resources to pay for their salaries,
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: to provide the care that you want to receive. And
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: so should you experience that when you walk in to
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: be made to feel like a number or made to
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: feel like you know, if you don't have insurance, then
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: you sit over here and we'll get to you when
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: we get to you.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: No, that should not happen. Does it happen?
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: It does, unfortunately, and we have to take responsibility for that,
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: which is why you need more people that actually give
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: a damn.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: You know about all the people that come in at Virtual.
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: And one of the things that I sort of pride
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: myself on is being a champion of humanity. You know,
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: your ability to pay or night, what matters is we
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: need to provide you the care when you need it.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: What is your thoughts on the nurses striking in New
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: York City? What's your thoughts on that?
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: That's a loaded questions, and I have two nursing unions
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: in our organization. I believe the best way to mitigate
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: some of the problems is having great relationships with the
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: people that provide the care and those of us that
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: are empowered or in positions to manage the business. And
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: everybody needs to be paid a fair wage. Everybody wants
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: to be treated like they matter. Everybody wants to feel
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: like they have a voice, and so I know those
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: nurses feel like they need to be represented such that
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: they could have a voice. But also know the management
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: site want to make sure that we are good stewards
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: of our financial resources and we have what it needs,
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: what we need to have an ongoing enterprise.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: And so I can't answer in favor or against.
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: I believe both sides are doing what they believe is
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: the right thing, and that's a situation that they have
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: to I'm blessed that we don't have that problem right now,
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: because I don't think anybody benefits absolutely.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: And I was going to ask too, you know, with
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: the shooting that happened a year ago, do you move differently?
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: Of course, talking about the shooting of the CEO of
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: the health company I do.
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: You know, Unfortunately a lot of people don't distinguish the
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: difference between an insurance executive CEO or a healthcare provider
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: side CEO, and.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: It's unfortunate they be cutting their nose off the spike
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: their face.
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, And you know, we take care of people
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: when they're at their worst. People show up, you know,
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: when they're at the worst, and we try and do
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: our best. So unfortunately, oftentimes when we travel and move
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: in and about, we have to have a security detail
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: with us as well.
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: Scary precautions would are y'all taking it virtuous to ensure
• 16:18
  Speaker 7: the protection of people's like patient data and stuff, because
• 16:21
  Speaker 7: you know, we've got a lot of data breaches, cyber
• 16:23
  Speaker 7: threats and things like that.
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: So how can you sure? That's a great question, and
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: it goes beyond just the data. One of our biggest
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: problems is one healthcare workers are subjected to.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: The most violence of any other working class.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: The violence against health care workers coming from patients, coming
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: from family members, and so we have to go above
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: and beyond one to protect them. And so you know,
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: these evolved systems that you walk through when you go
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: into a stadium that screens for what.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: We have that at all of our hospitals.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: Easy, but I understand.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I think every building, especially in America should have that.
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: You know, and I agree with you, because you have
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: to be able to protect so that on the one hand,
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: is in an area we have to focus on, and
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: then the privacy aspect of it, particularly as we're looking
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: at a digital age, we go to great lengths also
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: to protect your health information such that it is not
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: out there on the dark web or anything else.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: Why can somebody find out more information about what you
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: guys are doing on the other side of Jersey in Philly,
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: just in case they need to help, Just in case
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: they need, you know, some guidance, some advice.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: What would you got them to?
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: You know, first of all, I've got them to our website,
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: Virtua dot org. But you know, there are not just Virtue.
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: There are a lot of reputable organizations out there that
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: actually want to do the right thing and want to
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: treat people like they matter.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: The problem is they.
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: Don't all understand what the needs of all of our
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: communities are you know, you guys keep talking about you know,
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: those that have you know, they're privileged. That comes with
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: that and what it requires are individuals. I'm so proud
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: to be here and so happy that you guys are
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: are using this platform as a form to talk about
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: these things. We have to get other people to care.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: We got to get people to care about people that
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: don't look like them. We got to get people to care.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: I don't really care about your ability to pay or not.
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: I care about are we treating you as a unique individual?
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Are we giving you the care that you need?
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: You about that first? You lead it all.
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: I got to pay doctors, nurses, You know that it
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: comes with the territory. A lot of people have difficulties
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: talking about healthcare as a business.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: I just wish it wasn't.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: I wish it was just a public service.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: But then how would you how would you pay for
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: it the countries?
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: So let's talk about the way we're supposed to be
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: paying for it through our tax taxes. Right, So you
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: go to a country like Canada, you know, which has
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: socialized medicine, but the tax rate of Canadians exceed fifty
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: and just because it is an all peer system doesn't
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: mean that everybody get the care that they need.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: If you need an.
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: MRI, because you may need a joint replacement one, you
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: may be lucky to get it. Secondly, it may take
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: you six months or a year before you even can
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: get it. And so even people in those countries they
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: have private insurance as well, and so well even.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: In America, we can afford to have America can afford
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: to have affordable healthcare. Like it don't have to be
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: a about to say an arm in the leg. But
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: nowadays you're giving up every ding.
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: You get up every day, you know, And I only
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: I only represent a small part of that ecosystem.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: But you're right, it is way too expensive.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: And I say that for somebody that runs a healthcare organization,
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: but it is just not the provider.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: You got to look at Big Pharma.
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: You know, the cost of medication and the cost of
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: drugs is enormous.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: You know the my homegirls was complaining to do other day,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I've seen to show you the text. She was telling
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: me about how her daughter went to the gyn and
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: spent like one hundred and ninety six dollars for just
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: like a visit and had insurance.
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and then with the way that things are now,
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: like you know, they're capping you at a certain amount
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: of money. Like my grandma switched from Medicaid to Medicare.
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: She has to pay certain times when she goes to
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: sees a doctor. Right, she don't like I make her
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: go for check up. She won't go cause she's like,
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: I'm not spending three hundred dollars. You just go sit
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: and talk to her, tell her to call me, And
• 20:48
  Speaker 6: I'm like, no, she needs.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: To see you.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: But she does because and that's one of the problems
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: we run in to learn is when when people don't go,
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: when they wind up showing up, the severity of their
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: illness has progressed and it becomes even more expensive to
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: take care of than it would if they had gone
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: in for this routine visit.
• 21:08
  Speaker 7: But when you can't afford even the routine visits, you
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: know what I'm saying, it discourages you from going until
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: you really can't sit home no more.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: You're right, because one of the flaws in our system
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: is that the reimbursement for preventive type care is not there,
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: and so people choose not to pay for it.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: You know the areas that we have.
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: I think some of the biggest challenges are preventive care,
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: mental health and things of that nature, which is difficult
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: to get paid for.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Actually, she said, my daughter is at the doctor for
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: a visit Texas Children's Hospital right now and the bill
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: is seven hundred dollars win insurance. The daughter texted the
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: mom to say, does this look right? That's just like
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: that's crazy.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Woo.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us stopping in today. Man, We
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: really appreciate you. Dennis Pulling, ladies and gentlemen. And like
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: he said, you can go to a Virtua dot org.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: That's v I r t u a dot org. And
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: Charlemagne apologizes for using a lot of your doctors for
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: collings every couple of months just to get checked.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: You know, I'd rather him come in when he needs
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: to as opposed to when he has so I appreciate
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: you guys having me on, giving me an opportunity to
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: encourage people to invest in themselves and taking care of
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: themselves and.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Good work.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: That's what I keep doing.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Good work. Thank you guys.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: It's Dennis Pulling. It's the Breakfast Club. Good Morning every
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: day a week.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Click up the breakfast club you don't finish for y'all done.