The Business of Benefits Podcast

Every year the IRS puts out a memo called the "Dirty Dozen": a list of legal tax structures and processes that people are abusing. They're legitimate tools used the wrong way, and the memo flags them so people can get their house in order and know where the IRS plans to focus enforcement. Donovan Ryckis applied the same concept to benefits. Twelve tactics Ethos is seeing in the market that are leg...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with Karen van Caulil, Ph. D., President and CEO of the Florida Alliance for Healthcare Value, to unpack how employers are building real leverage in healthcare by purchasing together. If you have ever been told "we're not going to do a one-off for you," this one is for you. Karen explains what an employer-led healthcare coa...

This episode is built entirely from your favorite moments. In this year-in-review special, hosts Chelsea Ryckis and Donovan Ryckis of Ethos Benefits count down the most-watched clips of the year, the conversations that changed how employers think about their self-funded health plan. Across seven conversations you'll hear from an HVAC owner who found a 97% price difference on the same medical claim...

In this episode, host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with Patrick Williams, Co-Founder of Fiduciary in a Box, to reset what it actually means to be a fiduciary over your company’s health plan, and why “I don’t know” is the one answer that won’t hold up in a Department of Labor audit. We cover the core tenets of fiduciary duty under ERISA, the difference between settlor and non-settlor functions, and why...

At SHRM26, moderator Chelsea Ryckis and Ethos Benefits co-founder Donovan Ryckis brought two employers on stage to show what taking control of a self-funded health plan looks like in dollars and cents. Stephanie Porrino (formerly HR Director at Hendry Marine Industries, now Founder & CEO of Empower Healthcare Insights) and Jaimie Jarvis (HR Director at Kalos Services) walk through the plan cha...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with Dr. Romie Mushtaq, triple board-certified physician, national bestselling author, Chief Wellness Officer at Great Wolf Resorts, and founder of the brainSHIFT Institute, to have the workforce wellness conversation that the benefits industry has been missing. Dr. Romie pulls back the curtain on why burnout has become one...

The benefits industry is broken. $37,824. That's the average cost of a family of four on an employer-sponsored health plan in 2026 and it's growing at 9% a year. So how did we get here, and what does it actually look like to fight back? In this episode, host Austin Townend sits down with Chelsea Ryckis (President) and Donovan Ryckis (CEO) of Ethos Benefits for the origin story nobody asked for but...

In this episode, host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with Brittany George( insurance industry veteran, founder of Her Consulting, and author of A Tale of Two Births) to pull back the curtain on maternal healthcare in America. Brittany brings a rare perspective: 17 years in health insurance, time at Fountain Health, and two profoundly different birth experiences that changed everything she thought she kn...

What if making mental health care completely free for your employees actually lowered your total plan costs? In this solo episode, host Chelsea Ryckis breaks down one of the most compelling case studies in Ethos Benefits' history, a manufacturing company with 350–380 employees that eliminated every financial barrier to mental health care. Zero copays. Zero deductibles. Unlimited sessions. Open net...

In this special episode of The Business of Benefits, host Austin Townend flips the script and interviews our very own President and Co-Founder, Chelsea Ryckis. Together, they break down exactly what employers need to know about healthcare compliance, vendor accountability, and controlling costs heading into 2026. We cover the massive compliance shifts from the last 12 months—including the CAA of 2...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with Dr. Cristin Dickerson, founder of Green Imaging, to uncover the power of direct contracting for employer-sponsored health plans. They dive deep into how getting the "middleman" out of the equation can save plan sponsors up to 60% on medical imaging while actually improving the quality of care for employees. We cover ho...

In this explosive episode of The Business of Benefits, host Chelsea Ryckis and Fiduciary Benefits Consultant Talia Hansen sit down with entrepreneur and billionaire Mark Cuban to discuss the massive disruption happening in the healthcare industry. Mark shares the origin story behind Cost Plus Drugs and Cost Plus Wellness, and why employers hold the ultimate power to fix the broken healthcare syste...

Your health plan contracts are full of hidden traps and most employers never read them until it's too late. In this solo episode of The Business of Benefits, Chelsea Ryckis of Ethos Benefits pulls back the curtain on the most alarming contract clauses she's encountered in the last six to eight months. From undisclosed broker bonuses and spread pricing to termination traps and one-sided indemnifica...

In this special episode of The Business of Benefits, we pull back the curtain on a real-life, multi-year healthcare strategy transformation. Join our hosts as they sit down with Connie Alvarez, Director of HR at Wynden Stark, to dissect the five-year journey of their self-funded health plan. This is a masterclass for any employer feeling trapped by rising premiums and lack of control. We explore t...

In this session, Chelsea Ryckis and Julia Watt, Director of HR at Medical Technology Transfer (MTT), delve into a case study on "Future-Proofing Your Health Benefits." They discuss how MTT, a 125-employee company, achieved a 67% reduction in claims cost over three years through a multi-year strategic plan. This conversation offers a roadmap for employers of all sizes to move away from the traditio...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, host Donovan Ryckis sits down with Patrick Haig, co-founder and CEO of Goodbill, to reveal the secrets of hospital billing that every employer needs to know. They dive deep into the world of 501(r), a little-known IRS regulation that requires nonprofit hospitals to offer financial assistance, and how it can dramatically reduce healthcare costs for both...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with two trailblazing benefits leaders, Stephanie Porrino, Director of HR at Hendry Marine Industries, and Kristina Ewing, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Shoestring Valley Holdings at the Best of the Best Florida Healthcare Alliance event. Together, they share their journeys of transforming employer health plans throug...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, host Donovan Ryckis sits down with Trace Voshell, Chief Revenue Officer at GoGoMeds, to expose one of the most overlooked cost drains in employer healthcare: generic drug inflation. While most employers focus on high-cost specialty medications, Trace reveals that generic drugs, covering 80-90% of employees on medication, are systematically overpriced by...

In this episode, Donovan and Chelsea sit down with Chris Deacon, a nationally known healthcare reform advocate, attorney, and former director of the State of New Jersey’s massive public sector health plan. Chris pulls back the curtain on how public and private employers are getting overcharged, how procurement and politics protect the status quo, and why nonprofit hospital systems often behave lik...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, Donovan Ryckis guest starred on a Be More Than a Fiduciary Podcast episode with Eric Dyson of 90 North Consulting and Brenda Kruse of Axiom Healthcare Services. Together, they break down how employers can finally escape the renewal treadmill, create a 3–5 year benefits strategy, and apply fiduciary principles to healthcare. Brenda shares Axiom’s transfo...

In this episode, Donovan Ryckis, CEO of Ethos Benefits, sits down with Spencer Smith (SVP of Sales at Pareto Health and host of Self-Funded with Spencer) to unpack captives, stop-loss, PBMs, and the steps plan sponsors can take to finally regain control of healthcare spend. Spencer shares how short, educational content helped bring self-funding concepts downstream, why captives act like “bumpers”...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, Donovan Ryckis sits down with attorney and national thought leader Alden J. Bianchi to expose one of the most costly and overlooked failures in employer-sponsored healthcare: the illusion of broker transparency. The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) was supposed to fix hidden compensation. It didn’t. Instead, it created a fiduciary requirement to as...

In this HR Special, host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with friend and industry leader Lori Kleiman to talk about what it takes to level up from HR department-of-one to strategic business partner, without losing sight of day-to-day realities. We cover how small to mid-size employers can decide when to hire fractional or in-house HR, why headcount matters more than revenue, and the rising complexity of...

In this episode of The Business of Benefits Podcast, Chelsea Ryckis sits down with Dr. Zeev Neuwirth — physician, author of Reframing Healthcare and Beyond the Walls, and host of the Creating a New Healthcare podcast — for an unfiltered conversation about what’s really broken in America’s healthcare system and what employers can actually do to fix it. From the hidden “healthcare tax” driving wage...

Tired of shiny pitches and vague promises? In this solo episode, we break down a practical, repeatable system for holding your benefits vendors accountable so your plan actually performs.  From rock-solid RFPs to airtight contracts and respectful escalation, you’ll learn how to set clear expectations, track outcomes, and course-correct fast. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to design an RFP that...