Trevor Daer, President and Founder of Granite Peak Analytics, reveals the hidden complexities of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and why specialized consulting is crucial for self-funded health plans. He shares his journey from corporate burnout to creating a company that helps employers navigate the convoluted PBM landscape and avoid overpaying for prescription benefits.

• PBM consulting helps benefits advisors navigate pharmacy complexity and secure better contracts for clients
• Granite Peak Analytics was founded after discovering independent pharmacies were being squeezed by PBMs while employers overpaid
• The pharmaceutical supply chain involves manufacturers, wholesalers (McKesson, Cardinal, AmeriSource Bergen), pharmacies, PBMs, and employers
• "The Big Three" PBMs (Optum, Express Scripts, CVS Caremark) control 80-85% of the market and are vertically integrated with insurance carriers
• PBMs have approximately 45 different revenue streams, creating misaligned incentives where they profit as drug costs increase
• Employers without specialized PBM consulting typically overpay by up to 50% on their pharmacy benefits
• Pharmacy costs have grown from 4-5% of self-funded plans to 25-30% today
• Rebates create perverse incentives where higher-cost drugs are often preferred over lower-cost alternatives
• Current trends include rising GLP-1 costs, specialty medications, and biosimilar adoption challenges
• Active management of pharmacy benefits is essential, especially with expensive new therapies

The Marshall Allen Project preserves the legacy of investigative healthcare reporter Marshall Allen through an AI clone trained with his expertise to help Americans navigate medical debt. Founded by his widow after his sudden passing, the nonprofit organization aims to give 100 million Americans struggling with healthcare costs the tools to make better decisions and fight unfair billing practices.

• Marshall Allen spent 18 years investigating healthcare from the patient perspective before his death in May
• The MAC (Marshall Allen Clone) contains knowledge from 475 articles, books, podcasts and speaking notes
• One in six Americans has medical debt in collections, making healthcare costs their #1 financial concern
• The AI tool provides practical guidance on negotiating bills, finding fair pricing, and writing appeals
• Available in 115 languages to serve non-English speaking communities
• Victory Stories newsletter shares real examples of people who successfully fought medical bills
• Accredited educational curriculum available for brokers (NABIP) and HR professionals (SHRM)
• In 106 documented cases, Marshall helped individuals save an average of $15,000 each
• The foundation aims to save Americans over $10 million in its first year

Visit the Marshall Allen Project website to access the MAC and learn how to fight unfair medical bills and win.

Brett Billups, CHRO of Marketplace Chaplains and author of Biblical HR, shares his 30-year journey in human resources and how he bridges his Christian faith with workplace challenges.

• Stumbling into HR after seeing disconnects between management and employees at a manufacturing company
• Writing Biblical HR as a personal guide before publishing it to help others apply faith to specific workplace situations
• Challenging the notion that Christians should avoid accountability—holding people accountable in a godly way is actually biblical
• Approaching conflict resolution with the understanding that resolving conflict is ultimately God's job
• Reframing work-life balance as having one unified life dedicated to honoring God in everything
• Explaining how workplace chaplains provide confidential support that traditional HR departments often cannot
• Discussing the challenges of writing about diversity from a biblical perspective
• Sharing how the book led to his current position at Marketplace Chaplains

If you're struggling to align your faith with your work, remember that biblical principles represent how we were designed to function—they work whether we label them as religious or not.