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Episode 382: Andy Schoonover

Low Carb MD Podcast

Release Date: 02/24/2025

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Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Low Carb MD Podcast. Andy Schoonover is the CEO and founder of CrowdHealth, a company that deploys a crowdfunding model to pay its users’ medical bills. CrowdHealth, which is currently operating in all 50 states, can even help people when they’re overseas. The idea for CrowdHealth was born shortly after Andy moved to Austin, TX. His insurance refused to cover a 15 minute, $8,000 procedure for his daughter who had to get tubes in her ears because she had a hole in her eardrum. The insurance company claimed the procedure was ’not essential’ for her.

In this episode, Dr. Tro, Dr. Brian, and Andy talk about…

  • (00:00) Intro

  • (02:01) Andy’s career in remote healthcare and patient monitoring and how his experiences working in this field led him to starting CrowdHealth

  • (05:34) How the perverse incentive structures of the health insurance system lead to a lack of interest in cutting costs and, often, a lack of interest in addressing the root cause of disease in patients

  • (13:37) Why a new philosophy of health insurance is needed and the kind of system such a new philosophy would entail

  • (18:59) Andy’s crowdfunded medical bill sharing company and how it steps in to fulfill the need for a new solution to our broken medical insurance system

  • (27:58) How CrowdHealth is set up specifically to avoid falling into the same perverse incentive structures of big insurance companies

  • (35:08) Which pre-existing conditions and unhealthy habits disqualify people from joining CrowdHealth and what kinds of healthcare costs are not covered by CrowdHealth

  • (42:04) How generosity and reciprocity safeguard the economics of CrowdHealth’s system

  • (46:34) Why CrowdHealth is only direct-to-consumer

  • (48:19) How CrowdHealth handles routine examinations

  • (49:46) How CrowdHealth stacks up against other popular ‘health share’ programs, why these programs have been steadily going up in cost, and how CrowdHealth plans on avoiding the same rapid increase in cost to their customers

  • (54:44) How quickly CrowdHealth pays doctors and hospitals

  • (58:17) How CrowdHealth incentivizes its community to improve their metabolic health and dietary habits

  • (01:01:34) How both DPC practices and CrowdHealth avoid system overload by making the same probability bet

  • (01:05:15) How clinics like Tro’s, which cares for some of the most obese and metabolically sick people, can partner with a company like CrowdHealth, which admits people who are already metabolically well and relatively fit

  • (01:10:06) Whether age is a factor in what CrowdHealth members pay

  • (01:12:58) How CrowdHealth handles families with obese or otherwise unhealthy children or other family members

  • (01:16:38) Outro

For more information, please see the links below. Thank you for listening!

Links:

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Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Andy Schoonover:

Dr. Brian Lenzkes: 

Dr. Tro Kalayjian: 

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