Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Meador.
Hi Stephen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my career in banking, working in customer service, mortgage lending, and eventually in a bank branch. I later took a break from banking and spent a year teaching junior high and high school, which is still probably the hardest job I’ve ever had.
After that, I accepted a position helping people across the country with Medicare insurance. When I interviewed for the job, I could barely spell Medicare, much less explain how it worked.
But it did not take long for me to realize something important: even people who had been on Medicare for decades often did not basically understand their coverage, and when they needed help, finding someone who could give them a clear answer was surprisingly difficult.
Over the past several years, that problem has only gotten worse. With so many scams, robocalls, and high-pressure sales calls targeting seniors, it has become harder to know who to trust and where to get reliable information.
And it is not just Medicare.
People under 65 trying to navigate the Health Insurance Marketplace face many of the same problems, and so do employers trying to provide good health insurance options for their employees.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I call it, 800 Call Center Cleanup…
One of the hardest parts of my job is cleaning up the mess left behind by a call center.
I’ve seen someone with Alzheimer’s have their Medicare plan changed every month for over a year.
I’ve seen deadlines missed that can lead to lifelong penalties.
And I’ve seen recommendations made with no real understanding of the person’s doctors, prescriptions, finances, or situation.
That’s the problem with transactional insurance, they will never see the result of bad advice, they just take another call.
As you know, we’re big fans of MeadorCare LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
MeadorCare is here to help people understand Healthcare options, verify their coverage matches their needs, make plan recommendations, and help someone with a bill or claim questions. I understand insurance can be a bit boring but why not
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
One thing I’ve learned working in Roanoke is that people here prefer local relationships.
They want an intelligent recommendation from someone who understands the area, knows the local doctors and hospitals, and will still be here when they need help six months or six years from now.
You can give someone the exact same recommendation as a stranger at an 800 number, but it carries a lot more weight when it comes from someone local they know and trust.
Roanoke is also loyal to its own. People refer their friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors to local businesses.
That’s one of the things I like most about doing business in Roanoke. Trust is hard to earn, but once you earn it, people remember.
There can be a downside to that loyalty too. Sometimes I find that people stay loyal to a company, plan, or way of doing things simply because that is what they have always done, even though their needs or circumstances have changed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.meadorcare.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeadorCare/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenmeador/
