I started in the health insurance business in 1986, marketing directly to individuals
and small businesses all over the state of Georgia. Over the next 11 years
I built an agency from the ground up that eventually produced over $10,000,000
in business per year. During that time I personally met one-on-one with
several thousand individuals and small business owners concerning their health
insurance needs.
In
2000 my wife Christie and I took a year off to travel around the world.
The entire trip is documented on our website, www.longsstrangetrip.com.
After 13 months, we finally left Bali and headed back to the “real”
world.
When
we returned from Bali, we moved to Fort Collins, Colorado to both go back to
school. Christie’s in veterinary school, and I recently completed
my master’s in Nutrition and Exercise Science. In January of 2004
Health Savings Accounts first became available, and HSA
for America was born. In addition to running the company,
I am the author of the monthly newsletter Maximize
Your HSA, I have written for Agents Sales Journal, and I have been featured
in American Airlines Magazine, Pregnancy Magazine, the LA Times, and numerous
other publications.
The
introduction of Health Savings Accounts has created a tremendous opportunity
for individuals and businesses to lower the cost of their health care, receive
a generous tax-break, and save money for future medical expenses. By introducing
market competition into the medical marketplace, HSAs will force doctors and
hospitals to begin posting their prices and actually competing for their customers’
business. As anyone with a basic understanding of economics can tell you,
competition leads to lower prices and higher quality for all.
Too
often government programs encourage dependence and discourage personal responsibility.
Health savings accounts reward people for saving for their future, and further
reward them for taking care of their health. The person that puts aside
money in their HSA and then doesn’t use it will be rewarded with tax deductions
and tax-deferred growth and a savings account that can be used to pay medical
expenses during retirement. I am a big believer that individuals should
take greater responsibility for their future, instead of relying on the government
“nanny” to take care of them.
I
believe that HSAs are the best thing to happen to healthcare in a long time.
They save people money, they encourage responsible behavior, and they force
the medical providers to compete for our business. I started our California
regional division eCAHealthinsurance
in order to make it easy for Californians to learn about and set up HSA plans
as well as traditional insurance plans. Our mission is to find our clients
the best plans that meet their needs, at the lowest premiums available, and
to make the process easy. By helping you save money and have peace of
mind, we expect to continue to earn your business for life.
