Getting educated on importance of health care and making sure you’re covered

Open enrollment begins on November 1st and the folks at Maryland Health Connection are ready to help you get the right health coverage for you. Let Andy Ratner and Jenny Garrison of MHC educate you on the benefits and realities of real insurance to help you sleep with peace of mind in 2026.

Nestor Aparicio, Andy Ratner, and Jenny Garrison from Maryland Health Connection discussed the importance of health insurance during open enrollment. They highlighted that since the pandemic, enrollments have nearly doubled, with over a quarter of a million people now insured. Andy emphasized the critical role of health insurance, especially during the government shutdown. Jenny explained that open enrollment starts November 1 and ends January 15, with special enrollment periods for life changes. They stressed the financial and health benefits of having insurance, including preventive care and financial assistance based on income.

• [ ] Follow up with people who may have lost their insurance due to the government shutdown and inform them about the options available through the Maryland Health Connection.
• [ ] Promote the Maryland Health Connection and the open enrollment period starting November 1.
• [ ] Encourage listeners to visit marylandhealthconnection.gov or call 855-642-8572 to learn more about the available plans and enroll.

Maryland Health Connection Introduction and Personal Connections

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show and mentions the Maryland Lottery, giving away Raven scratch-offs.
• Nestor reminisces about his long-standing relationship with Andy Ratner and Jenny Garrison from Maryland Health Connection.
• Nestor shares personal anecdotes about his friends and their connections to various Baltimore neighborhoods.
• Jenny Garrison introduces a new branded baseball cap and other swag from Maryland Health Connection.

Discussion on Health Insurance and Government Shutdown

• Nestor and Andy discuss the importance of health insurance, especially during the government shutdown.
• Andy explains that the government shutdown is partly about affordable health care insurance.
• Nestor and Andy talk about the growth in enrollments for Maryland Health Connection over the past seven years.
• Nestor uses visual comparisons to illustrate the number of people who have gotten insurance through Maryland Health Connection.

Personal Health Insurance Experiences

• Nestor shares his personal experiences with health insurance, including his wife’s cancer diagnosis and the importance of having insurance.
• Jenny Garrison explains her role as the Outreach Program Manager for Maryland Health Connection.
• Nestor reflects on his own experiences with insurance and the challenges of understanding health insurance options.
• Andy and Jenny discuss the importance of health insurance for small business owners and independent contractors.

Affordability and Accessibility of Health Insurance

• Nestor and Andy discuss the affordability of health insurance and the challenges faced by those who need to buy it themselves.
• Jenny explains the financial help available through Maryland Health Connection to lower the cost of health insurance.
• Nestor and Andy talk about the importance of having health insurance to avoid financial ruin in case of medical emergencies.
• Jenny emphasizes the availability of preventive care and free screenings under Maryland Health Connection plans.

Open Enrollment and Special Enrollment Periods

• Jenny explains the open enrollment period starting November 1 and ending January 15.
• Nestor and Jenny discuss the importance of signing up during open enrollment to avoid higher costs later.
• Andy explains the special enrollment periods for those who experience life changes, such as losing a job or having a baby.
• Jenny highlights the importance of maintaining health insurance coverage to avoid personal bankruptcies and ensure access to necessary medical care.

Success Stories and Preventive Care

• Andy shares a personal story about being diagnosed with stage three colon cancer and the importance of having health insurance.
• Jenny shares a success story about a man who lost his job and was able to get health insurance through Maryland Health Connection.
• Jenny emphasizes the importance of preventive care and the free screenings available under Maryland Health Connection plans.
• Nestor and Jenny discuss the benefits of having health insurance for children, including free vaccinations and well-visits.

Swag and Final Thoughts

• Nestor and Jenny go through the swag bag, including a baseball cap, beach ball, flower seeds, and other items.
• Nestor reflects on the importance of health insurance and the role of Maryland Health Connection in providing affordable coverage.
• Andy and Jenny provide final thoughts on the importance of signing up for health insurance and the resources available through Maryland Health Connection.
• Nestor thanks Andy and Jenny for their time and information, and the show concludes with a reminder about the importance of health insurance.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Maryland Health Connection, open enrollment, health insurance, affordable care, government shutdown, preventive care, financial help, special enrollment, Medicaid, private plans, insurance companies, health coverage, life events, insurance costs, community outreach.

SPEAKERS

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Andrew Ratner, Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1, Jenny Garrison

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 tassel, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. I feel very at home. I’m back at downtown Baltimore. I’m staring at parks fried chicken. Since 1978 we’re fade Lee’s since, like was it 1887 I know where all my cues are. The sign here. We’re down here on behalf of our friends at the Maryland lottery, I have the freshly minted these are the first time I’ve given these away. The Raven scratch offs. Thank you, Roz and good luck to the Guardians. John Martin, we’ll be giving these away on Monday. It cost us and Timonium and for today, we’re down here at Fayette Lee’s. I smell crab cakes. I’ve smelled Lexington market, just in a general sense, big crowd down here at lunchtime. I got some familiar faces. One of the two bill calls I know is actually here in the foreground, eavesdropping on me, because I’m here with my friends from the Maryland Health Connection. Andy Ratner and I have known each other since I was when did you start at the sun? 8585 All right, so I was 86 so you knew you watched me walk in the door pretty much. Gosh, I was a baby. I was 17 and and then, you know, Theresa Gutierrez is my high school friend. I invited her, right? And you’re like, I’ll only come if Theresa comes. And I’m like, I hate Theresa’s like, I can’t come. I’m out of town. You get so then you said, Not that we’re gonna, like, raise the bar on Dundalk, because that’s a hard thing to do. But when I talked to Jenny here, she said, Parkville. Via, you said, would you say Kingsville? Kingsville? And I said, Perry Hall. You said Lutheran. And I’m like, I live near there. She’s like, Oh, the tower by luskins. Yeah, that’s the one my towers right over top of Lutheran. So you’re as local as me. So from Dundalk, the Parkville, to two points northeast in Baltimore County. We’re talking about the Maryland Health Connection day. You have a swag bag, Jenny, so what do you got for me

Jenny Garrison  01:52

today? What do you teach? I would like to debut our brand new baseball cap.

Nestor Aparicio  01:57

Whoa, whoa. Hold on to have to wear it. Yes, I did my hair all pretty today. So you know, if you want me to wear it, see if I wear the

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Jenny Garrison  02:04

hat chicken, tuck your ponytail in the hat.

Nestor Aparicio  02:07

I got a lot of ponytail. You have no idea what’s going on here. So this all started. I mean, first of all, I know Theresa forever. And Andy, I’ve known you forever. I saw you Mako a couple years ago talking about things going over the state. I’m like, Oh, what do you do? What’s the health connection? You’re like, Obamacare, and I’m like, and this is when, like, Biden is running the country, right? And I’m like, Well, this is important, especially in places where we’re Lexington market right now. I don’t know how many of these folks are insured, or where their insurance is. I do know it has to come from somewhere on the morning when the government shut down. And we can go in the whole political thing with that, and I’m sure we will later on. What do people need to know about healthcare at this point, through this transitional phase of maybe even democracy, in regard to signing up benefits, periods, all of that stuff. Because, like, I’m always a little befuddled by it, but I’m always happy to try to educate people, because I do see people on a daily basis that don’t have insurance, that could get insurance, could find a better way, but they don’t even know about you guys. And I know that’s why you want me to wear the hat, right? Yeah, of course, absolutely.

Andrew Ratner  03:15

Well, I mean, it’s very important, and in some ways, people, as you said, Having health insurance or not having health insurance is at the heart of what this government shutdown really is about. This whole battle is really about. You know, should people be able to have affordable health care insurance? And as you say, there are still a lot of people who don’t know about Maryland Health Connection, but a lot more people do than when it began. In fact, enrollments have grown for the last seven years in a row, and since the pandemic, we’ve almost doubled our enrollment. So people are finding a quarter million people have gotten insurance through Maryland Health Connection,

Nestor Aparicio  03:56

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a quarter of a million people. That’s pretty much five Raven stadiums, right? That’s eight Camden Yards, or, you know, whatever, right? I mean, that’s just a lot of people. Yeah, it’s a lot of it’s two rose bowls. Yeah, it’s a lot of people, yeah, yeah. That’s like, five times the amount of people at the beach, at the concerts last weekend, right? Like, literally, right, yeah. I mean, just to put a visual to how many people that if they have anything that goes wrong with them, my wife got cancer. We talked about this all the time with our partners at GBMC. I’m having my special 50 something male procedure with my night before. Thing going on, you know? And that’s, I don’t want to say colonoscopy here at Lexington market, but, but so, I mean, I, but I have to have insurance. To have that, you have to have insurance.

Jenny Garrison  04:47

Well, don’t they put you under a little bit, oh, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  04:49

They put me under. Yeah, yeah. Well, gonna need to put me under. So I need anesthesia. I got a doctor, I got an appointment, I got prep, I got like this. Said, I’m the guy who has unbelievable insurance, because my wife has unbelievable insurance. Thank God. I mean, she had millions of dollars after her 155 nights at Hopkins when she had cancer. So two bone marrow transplants, leukemia, twice, you know, diabetic comas, all sorts of things. And my wife’s diabetic. And I think I’ve told you this, Andy, and by the way, Andy Ratner’s here, Jenny Garrison’s here. What is your title,

Jenny Garrison  05:23

Outreach Program Manager. What is

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Nestor Aparicio  05:26

it exactly? Does that mean? And I got to get you up on the mic. Go ahead. We’re already we can’t be afraid of the mics here, especially in a big room. Don’t do what Mueller does when I don’t read. Don’t readjust my mics. So go ahead. What does outreach

Jenny Garrison  05:37

coordinator do? It’s program manager.

Nestor Aparicio  05:41

Program Manager. What does that mean? Well,

Jenny Garrison  05:43

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I, overall, I oversee initiatives across the state to get people health insurance so partnerships and events and lots of webinars and presentations and radio interviews.

Nestor Aparicio  05:55

Oh, right. Sometimes podcast too, somebody your age a little younger than me, podcast sounds so much more hip than radio. It’s like newspapers, his age, right? So, you know, or my age too. But he was one of my mentors. You know, he won’t talk about that. You didn’t know this. I didn’t see she’s being educated. He’s blushing. So, so I started the Baltimore Sun on January the sixth, 1986 and I was a parent of a then 15 month old. So I needed insurance for my kid, right? So one of the big things about getting a job at the sun when you were grown up, and I was a kid, was that I was on my dad’s insurance then at Bethlehem Steel, and when I got a gig at the sun, like, my dad explained to me, you’re gonna have benefits, like, you’re gonna, like, have to sign up and have a medical card. I mean, I’m 17 years old. I don’t even, I don’t even know from this, right? I got my gig three months later, my appendix burst. They ran me to church home hospital where I was born in 1968 in case the ice comes by today, in case they come by, I was born here church. Oh, I am Hispanic. I’m Venezuela, so, and I do look a little, little Guatemalan around the eyes. So in 1986 during Chernobyl, my appendix exploded. They threw me into Churchill middle of the night, shave me down, cut me up. I wake up in the morning, hole in my stomach, and I’m like, I wonder who’s paying for this. I had two different insurance could free something, whatever those things were back in the day, and they were fighting with each other about who was gonna pay. And I’m like, why no one of you pay? Because I have two different sets of I have my father’s insurance and my insurance. And I think about this all these years later, knock on wood. And I, you know, I’m 50 I’ll be 57 by the time you hear this next week, I haven’t had a day in my life without insurance like so I have not had to figure it out when I got married my wife, I’ve been married 22 years. This is something that befuddles me the way car insurance, business, insurance, like all of these things, and I’m intimidated by it, right? I would say somebody comes up to you right here in the market, any of these people, and they’re like, hey, what’s the Maryland Health Connection? That’s pretty much where I come in every time, because I think that’s the beginning of Google it, and then you say, I need insurance, and

Andrew Ratner  08:06

I think, and I think, as you described, for three quarters of the people in America, it’s a little bit theoretical, because they get their health insurance through their employer or and always have or get it through Medicare or Medicaid or the veterans program. But for the other, less than really a quarter of people in this country, they buy it for themselves, whether they, you know, drive for Uber or own a small business or or, you know, or they just don’t get it through their business. Have to buy it for themselves. And this what is, what this whole battle is about. Are they able to get affordable health care insurance? And I love the way you put it about the Raven stadiums. So there is still there. When we started this about a decade ago, there were 10 ravens stadiums worth of people who had no health care insurance in Maryland, and we’ve cut it to about five Raven stadiums of people who don’t have health care insurance in Maryland. And what’s going on right now might impede the gains, and some of the five stadiums that have insurance are going to be shrunk back. So you know that really is what we’re talking about.

Nestor Aparicio  09:18

Well, what is affordable? I mean, we say affordable. I mean, I hear Obamacare here, all of that for someone to come up and say, I’m a 57 year old guy, lose my gig, lose my wife, lose my insurance, lose everything. I’m like, I got to figure it out again. I think it was different. When I was in my 30s, I became an independent contractor in 1992 when I left the sun and I had my own insurance in the 90s. And it was a thing, you know what I mean? And this was before, this is during Clinton, or whatever, and this is when, like, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, just lose, was what it was. And there was pricing on it. I’m like, I’m healthy, I’m in my 20s. This should I have a kid? Shouldn’t be that expensive? Do I get it through my little business? Do I get it as a sole proprietorship? Am I a small business? Am I. S, Corp, seek, all of that stuff that I’m almost retirement age and I’m still befuddled by it. So if this happened to me tomorrow, I would call Andy. I would call Teresa because, like, I know you a little bit, but I would go up onto the Googles, and I would be, you know what? What does this mean for dental what does this mean for my eyes? My eyes are the most expensive thing going on for me right now in my life, at 57 my I spend more money on I stuff, because my prescriptions change, and I have progressive and this and that I need to read and see. I don’t even know where I would begin. So vision plan through us. See that. All right, seven, and I come up to you and I say, all right, lost my job, lost my gig. Don’t you know? Whatever? Where does one begin in finding this health insurance to be easily accessible? And could you hold my hand seriously? Because I would need you to hold my hand.

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Jenny Garrison  10:52

Yeah. So I would just say, Well, the good news is that Maryland Health Connection is still available. You know, although healthcare is heavy in the news, Maryland is one of the states where we manage our own insurance marketplace. So as you mentioned, someone who’s a small business owner or a childcare provider, or someone who drives for Uber, or someone who owns a hair salon or a barbershop that doesn’t get insurance through their job they’re working, they can check out marylandhealthconnection.gov, and get a look at we work with the major insurance companies, care first, United Healthcare, Kaiser and, well, point and so

Nestor Aparicio  11:27

that’s the insurance you will have. Yes, I mean, this is why I bring you guys. And do you think this is boring for me? It’s not like, I’m trying to, like, really get I did not know that. So when you sign up, I can get the names that I’m seeing during the Ravens games and commercials.

Jenny Garrison  11:44

Yes, and we give you financial help to lower the cost of what you would pay if you went right to an insurance company. So instead

Nestor Aparicio  11:51

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of going anyway, or my little radio station and me and Luke, and in my I have two employees.

Jenny Garrison  11:56

So it’s based on your income and then the number of people in your household, and so depending on your income and the number of people in your home, then you would either be determined eligible for Medicaid, which is free, or a private plan through one of the main companies that I mentioned. And so it’s all available at Maryland Health connection.gov. Really isn’t set up an account.

Nestor Aparicio  12:16

Yeah, Andy Ratner’s here. Jenny garrison is here. She’s a Jenny. My wife’s a Jen. You’re both Jennifer’s, I think, yeah, you were Jennifer. All right. Well, I won’t call you that. I’ll call you 8675309, Maryland, health connection, website, phone number. Give me all of that, in case anybody’s out in the car right now, or you’re clicking on me online, on the crab cake tour and talking about this, because it it’s not just in the news. It is done news this morning, right? Like you were, he’s an old editor. Did you know this about him? I do, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, the headline today in

Speaker 1  12:51

America is, what this government shutdown

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Nestor Aparicio  12:55

shuts down. Oh, my God. What does that mean for my health insurance? Right? Like, if my mother was in her 90s, right? Like, you know, she would wake up and freak out about this stuff if she was still alive. And then, yeah, we’re trying to get Congress to keep it the way it is, right, or keep people so what happens when people get thrown Well, I think

Andrew Ratner  13:17

it goes, it goes to your question of, no, what’s, what’s affordable and and one, one measure for me, of sort of what’s affordable and how much you pay for health insurance, as Jenny said, depends on your income. Where you live, the number of people in your family, it could be, you know, it could be less than $100 a month. It could be several $100 a month. But to me, there are two, two thing, I think people vote with their pocketbook often. And when they used to come into Maryland Health Connection, seven, eight years ago, they found it too expensive. So people who would sign up in January and by May or April say, This is too much for me. I’m out, and we would lose 30% of the enrollment before being uninsured. I mean, that’s just so fast forward to now. We have, in as of, as of right now, we have 97% of the people of the total that signed up in January still, still with us. To me, that means they voted with their pocketbook. It’s like, I can afford this. I have health care. I don’t want to be uninsured, and we have virtually the same number that we signed up in January for health insurance. Secondly, as you say, it’s very complicated, and the people will get, you know, you can get a Bronze plan, you could pay a little more for a Silver plan. You could pay a little more for a gold plan. And we have an awful lot of people who said, I can afford the gold plan, which means they don’t put as much out of pocket if they do have when they do have an incident. So to me, those two things say whatever, whatever you’re spending, whatever your income and your affordability, if you’re sticking with it and you’re buying a good product. You clearly feel like this is working for me, and that’s why what’s happened this week with the government is so important, because these people are going to be in a different boat come 2026 if they’re having to pay hundreds of dollars more per month for health coverage

Nestor Aparicio  15:19

when somebody gets uninsured, what happens? Jenny, I mean, they reach back. You say these percentages of people, I go off in May, I go uninsured all summer, whatever I need, any insurance during the holiday, insurance every day. Just speak to the importance of the insurance. I mean, I can’t imagine what happens to you when the ambulance shows up and something happens. Anything happens. Even my wife went hiking in the woods last year, broke, broke her foot. I had to go pick her up that, you know, took her and I just at any moment, anything can go wrong. And I, I just feel for those people that you talk about and say, Well, I can’t afford it. I go uninsured. Is there anything that can be done to make sure, basically, almost everyone can afford it, right? I mean, that’s the idea of what you are. Somebody comes to you on the down and out, you can still help them, right? Yeah.

Jenny Garrison  16:09

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So open enrollment starts November 1, so if someone doesn’t have insurance, they can come in and sign up then. And if you have a life event, not an injury, necessarily, but like, if you lose your job and you and you lose your insurance, and a lot of people are being in Maryland, are being impacted by the Federal layoffs right now. So those people need to know that Maryland Health Connection is available to give them coverage since they’ve lost their job, and we do open special enrollment periods so someone, if someone, had a life event, they lost their job, they had a baby, they got married, they just moved to Maryland, they can come in and get insurance through Maryland Health connection.gov,

Nestor Aparicio  16:42

all right, how many people we in search of? Andy, in regard to uninsured in Maryland? Right now, you said football stadiums,

Andrew Ratner  16:50

probably about, you know about, you know, five Raven stadiums. 300 or more 1000 people in Maryland do not have health insurance, but we’re fearful that you’re going to lose another 100,000 when this is all said and done, if people’s rates go up and they can’t afford it.

Nestor Aparicio  17:07

100,000 people is a lot of people. Man, I mean, and that would all happen very, very rapidly, right? That would fall off a cliff, right? That would not be, there’d be no staggering in those 100,000 right?

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Andrew Ratner  17:19

You’d either, you know, either be signed up. You know, our open enrollment runs into January, you’d either be signed up by then, or you need, as Jenny said, a special reason to sign up. But yeah, we’ll know all of that by January or February, of what the impact has been on Maryland Health Connection.

Nestor Aparicio  17:37

Well, to keep my FCC license, I have to serve the community, so I feel like I’m serving the community as well as crab cake. We’re at fadeleys with our friends at the Maryland Health Connection. Jenny garrison is here. Andy Ratner, my old pal is here. We’re all here on behalf of the Maryland lottery. I have Raven scratch offs to give away and crab cakes to eat. Don’t snooze on the shrimp salad here. Okay? And I did the fried oysters here as part of my tastiness material wellness and 27th anniversary. Even though the 26th anniversary logos here, I’m still celebrating last year. Why is the enrollment period and the November 1 thing so important for folks,

Jenny Garrison  18:12

because you can just come in and get insurance. So if you, you know, if you, if you don’t have insurance, you need to get it. When you

Nestor Aparicio  18:21

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say open enrollment November 1. What if I show up on March 15? I’m just, what? When does a period open and close? It ends on January 15? Alright, so I need you to scare me about that. So you tell me, by the time the ravens are in their second playoff game and they straighten this out, right, that’s so you have 6075 days, basically. So what happens after that? Andy, like, I call you January 18, and I need insurance. What?

Andrew Ratner  18:45

What happens? You would, you would need to have, as Jenny said, some change of life event to allow you to get in. So it’s, I would say it’s the opposite of Hotel California. You, you know, it’s, you can check in and check in at a certain time, but you can’t get back in later on, and don’t try to do the lyrics right here.

Nestor Aparicio  19:04

No, no, no. I heard California right as I was driving in, because my wife and I are trying to go out see the leave, but you can leave, yeah, stab it with their stealing,

Speaker 1  19:13

but you can’t

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Nestor Aparicio  19:16

kill the beast. Okay? So say that again, because I am, I am dyslexic on this particular

Andrew Ratner  19:21

issue. So anyway, after after January 15, you know, you would need to qualify for a special exception. You lost your job, a divorce, perhaps a marriage came and moved into the state. There’d have to be some reason that you qualify for to get into insurance. Otherwise, you have to wait till next fall to apply for the following year. And the reason for that is, you know, as you say, expensive, insurance is expensive, and I think the insurance providers didn’t want to be in a situation where someone would find out they had cancer, had not paid into insurance at all. All, and then now, of a sudden, I’m going to sign up and they be on the hook for it. So this was, now, you’re really teaching me, this was sort of a thing that was put in to to make that to because I

Nestor Aparicio  20:11

always wonder why. I’m like, why is there, you know this? And I thought, well, end of the year, you want to be insured, year to year, January one to January one. And I’m like, nobody’s insurance really works that way, you know, but my friend Pete ramundi comes on. He’s an insurance agent up in Harford County. Runs ads. He’s my dude. We talk about insurance. He talks about all these catastrophic things that happened in his time for decades of being an insurance agent. And I think the thing about insurance that’s so freaky is, to your point, people are paying it for five months, and they’re really there they need groceries. And, you know, I I do things for the food bank in the winter, and I do a cup of Super Bowl. You know, I’m doing community stuff all the time. So I get out and I, you know, I haven’t gone to bed hungry at night in my life because I had great parents, and I’ve lived the kind of life where people like Andy Jack Gibbons looked out for me when I was 17, and I have great sponsors like Damian, thank God for all of that. But I’ve never had to make that hard choice about, am I going to have my heat on, my water on my car paid for my kids and clothes like diapers, food, whatever, whatever hardships, because I was 15 years old with a pregnant girlfriend, right? I had insurance, but what if I didn’t? And and I so I think about all of these hardships, and it’s just this cost of something that sort of, you don’t touch it. It’s not tangible until you need it. And I’m not a guy that I bought them a positive. I’m not here to scare people, but I do think there’s some fear, right? That gets involved in people when they come to you, and they’re probably the way I am even talking about it, like I don’t understand it, you know? And some people may be even more difficult with an education or language barrier, or the language, language, or literacy, or any of those other issues, I’m thinking, you have seen everything, right? I mean, that’s why I’m bringing this up, because Pete says they’ve seen everything. Give me a couple of cases that would impress our audience, to say somebody came to me, you wouldn’t believe what happened to them, and we got them insurance and they needed it, right? I mean, and this happens every day. If you’re doing this for a half a million people who weren’t getting it 10 years ago,

Andrew Ratner  22:13

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if you go to Maryland Health connection.gov, we have success stories, you know, all over the website, yeah. You know, I think, to your question of, so what happens if you don’t have insurance? And two things happen if you don’t have insurance, it’s the one of the largest reasons, if not the largest reason, for personal bankruptcies. So you get an enormous bill for health insurance that you can’t pay without, you know, for health coverage that you can’t pay without insurance. And secondly, and more importantly, it impacts your life and the life of your family. So, you know, even if you have insurance, it’s that little pain I feel. I could put it off for a little bit, but if you don’t have, if you have insurance, eventually you’ll say, you know, I got to ask the doctor about that. So I was at an Orioles game eight years ago, and I had indigestion. And I was like, That’s not unusual. I have indigestion Orioles game, but it was like pursuit. It was a lot. It became a lot. And the next day, I called the doctor, and it turned out by that next week, I realized I had stage three colon cancer. Oh, my God. Andy, I didn’t know this, and and was had great hospital here, great hospital. Hopkins was able to recover successfully for it after a year of, you know, treatment, and had great health insurance. But if not for that, it would have been a whole different story for me. And if you have your insurance card, you walk into the hospital, the doctor’s office, and there’s not a run around on sort of, what am I going to go? Where am I going to you know, who am I going to be held?

Nestor Aparicio  23:47

We’ll take care of you. Worry about that later. That’s right, I can’t imagine having a tragedy, and in the middle of it, you’re thinking about how you’re going to pay for it, because it hurts enough whatever, whatever is taking you to a doctor is bad. It’s the worst thing in your life when you have to do that, no matter what the bill is, whether you can afford it or can’t afford it, the trauma of it and the moment of being in it, and oft times, none of us are planning on seeing that. Well, I am planning my colonoscopy. Thank you. GBMC, next month, but, but, I mean, I’m planning that, so I’m not planning that, right? Yeah, exactly. Wag your finger at me and tell me I’m an idiot for waiting this long, because I need

Speaker 1  24:24

to hear that you’re an idiot for waiting this

Nestor Aparicio  24:26

There you go. Andy Ratner’s here. Jenny Garrison, Jenny, I interrupted you and your No,

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Jenny Garrison  24:30

I was just gonna say, you know, to similar to Andy’s story. We just interviewed someone last week whose father had cancer and he was working and and had insurance through his job, and he had and he got the cancer. He got the diagnosis. He couldn’t keep working anymore because of his cancer and his treatments. Also, he was able to come on to Maryland Health Connection, because he had the lost his coverage through his job, and get coverage, not only for himself so he could continue his cancer care, but for his wife. Nestor and his son. So it’s like, Sometimes life happens. You might have insurance through your job, but then you get sick and you can’t work anymore. Then then Maryland Health Connection is available for you when your life changes, so that you can maintain your coverage and keep getting into care. I think it also people don’t realize how important preventive care is. So going to the doctor before you do get sick, like your colonoscopy, for example, and Maryland Health Connection plans all cover free preventive care. So a lot of our screenings that people need are free screenings for depression, diabetes, for substance use disorder, some vaccines. I take my kids to the doctor. It seems like every other week

Nestor Aparicio  25:38

good facts. Don’t listen to these

Jenny Garrison  25:41

creeps all of my children’s childhood vaccines are free. All of their well, visits with their pediatrician are free. And when they’re first born, you know, you take them every month or every two months, sometimes the first couple weeks, it’s like every week you have to take them to the doctor, you know? So, so it’s just really important to have that coverage so that you can get all the care that you need, not only for yourself as an adult, but for your children as well.

Nestor Aparicio  26:04

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I reach for my phone, and you guys are like, what’s up? And on the way down, I literally on Facebook, saw this cartoon. That was a Japanese thing about maintenance. Yeah, it maintenance. It was. It was a really cool little, you know, cartoon, but it was, it was a Japanese proverb about maintenance. Preventative Maintenance is the answer to everything, whether it’s your garden, whether it’s your health, whether it’s your relationships, you know, all of that. So it’s kind of a neat thing. So you said that, you know. So I’m listening. I’m hearing you. Jenny Garrison’s here, Andy rattner’s here. We’re talking maryland health. So if Theresa were here right now, she’d be elbowing me about her sister and old stories and Dundalk, you know, I went to real estate class with her dad, who just had a birthday, and I saw him online. So, you know, hey, Mr. G, shout out to you too. So what do you have in the bag here? Because you brought me, I’m gonna give you the bag. All right. Give him health. Give him health.

Jenny Garrison  27:00

Give him health first. Have the best flag health, okay, Took you long enough.

Nestor Aparicio  27:07

I thought you were talking about the Houston Texans. Okay, all right, beach ball, give me that my wife and I are gonna go see Jimmy Buffett’s band again soon.

Jenny Garrison  27:18

Are you a gardener? Flower seeds? Did you know we have a program for small business owners while flowers grow your business like wild. Shout out to Theresa for that one that was her

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Nestor Aparicio  27:27

clever. No, what happens is that these swag events you’ve been to, Mako, of course, I’ve been so I do the show Mako every year. Make those this gigantic convention in Ocean City, where I run to people like Andy, who do things that are state oriented. I run into my lottery people. I run it every elected right? But it’s this giant convention. And I’m not a swag guy. I’ve been doing radio. How many years and 34 years? 34 and a half years, every you and everyone who’s ever promoted anything leaves me a shirt, a hat of widget, a ding dong. Hand Sanitizer, you know, pocket, pocket calendars, all so I get all of this. I get a lot of swag. But when you go to Mako, I have a couple of people in my life. I’m not gonna out you Karen, who really like getting the swag because their kids like it, you know what I mean? Or they go home. My wife, a couple years ago, brought me their Maryland flag wrap arounds for a bag. And I, literally, I have a habit rate right here. Hold on, it’s right here. So I got this at Mako. It’s, look at look at good looking. That is. So anytime our luggage comes off the rack at the airport, we have swag, right? So I get all of this swag and I’m dropping I’m dropping my tissues on the floor, which is good. I blow my nose a lot, so I cry a lot. So tissues. Thank you.

Jenny Garrison  28:53

Big time. Crier, yeah, what

Nestor Aparicio  28:56

I’m saying is these seeds here, of all the things that I would go around and steal them all. I would like, hey, Theresa, look over there. And I would like, take 12 of them and throw them in my bag. Is this wildflower mixture. This is a really nice gift. So thank you for this. I just wanted, like, some of this stuff I made. I don’t wanna tell you never gonna wear the hacks. I’m gonna wear it in a minute for you. But the beach ball I got, maybe I could do something with this. What else you got? You got rubber ducky? That’s different. Power Bank. You can’t use that toothbrush. You say, need to brush my breath, bad. All right, just checking. All right, I’ll wash it down with a crab cake. We’re gonna need you to put Oh, okay, hold on. What are these? Need health insurance. Is this? You mean to read the ad? Yeah, read it. Need health insurance. Get low cost, quality health insurance. You can count on Maryland Health Connection is the state’s official Health Insurance Marketplace. It’s also the only place to get financial help to pay for your plan. You’re answering all the questions that I had in the first segment here, from doctor visits to mental health. Services I’m getting there to prescription medications. Is that my eyes? Is that be prescription too, or no? Is that a different plan? Prescriptions are covered? Yes, I am the pain in the ass at Mako, at her little Well, I’ll tell you a little take all your stuff, and then I’m going to ask you a bunch of

Jenny Garrison  30:18

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questions. Most people want to get rid of their stuff, because then they don’t have to

Nestor Aparicio  30:22

envision plans are also available. I should have read the next sentence, and you can

Jenny Garrison  30:26

actually enroll in a vision plan any time of year, but you do have to wait until open enrollment or a special enrollment to get dental

Nestor Aparicio  30:33

coverage. Trained experts like Teresa are available to answer your questions and help you apply. 855-642-8572, you can connect with the call center helps available in 200 languages where they got Google Translate.

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Jenny Garrison  30:48

That’s pretty good. Have an interpreter, line,

Nestor Aparicio  30:52

use relay, and that’s for my friends out there who who do have that problem. And you can visit maryland health connection.gov to shop, prepare plans or to get connected with the broker in 30 minutes, or 30 minutes or less, at a promise that come from the time.

Jenny Garrison  31:08

Tried it the other day, they actually called me in two minutes, which I was not prepared for.

Nestor Aparicio  31:12

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Medical, sorry. Medical, yeah, I can. It also comes in Espanol. I had the Spanish language Texans voice on Enrique Vasquez this week. We did it in English, so you can go listen to it. But Andy Ratner’s here. Do you want to tell everybody what I was like at 17? Theresa knows, you don’t know in my audience,

Speaker 1  31:38

has it changed?

Nestor Aparicio  31:41

What was your job when I got the job, January of 86 and you were at the sun, and I was at the sun. I think

Andrew Ratner  31:47

I started out as the Anne Arundel County editor, okay? And then I think went on to be a metro editor, and then went to be,

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Nestor Aparicio  31:57

were you Baltimore, sir? Evening? You were Morning, sir. I was

Andrew Ratner  32:01

start out with zones, and then the evening sun, and then went to the morning. So you were on my team? I think so at some point, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  32:10

tell her they were teams, right? It really

Andrew Ratner  32:12

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were some papers, yep, and it was covered technology,

Nestor Aparicio  32:15

the legendary story of Michael Davis, want to have a fist fight in this in the newsroom over the Mayflower picture, because he put the ticket in to send jet out or whoever to take a picture, right? Oh, man, we, we could have made, like All the President’s Men or something. We could have made a movie out of all that,

Andrew Ratner  32:33

right? No, I said there was, there was less fiction in season five of the wire than people realize.

Nestor Aparicio  32:41

Well, David Simon and Raphael were running around the newsroom, right? Yep, I have never seen The Wire. Andy, I lived in the city for 20 years. I’m here right now. I just never should I see the

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Andrew Ratner  32:52

wire. I just finished watching it my second time. It’s even more amazing the second time. So, yeah, no, need to watch it.

Nestor Aparicio  32:59

I told David Simon that I hadn’t seen he said, Don’t bother what Simon beat Simon. You know, Simon, so I

Andrew Ratner  33:07

don’t think I had watched it for 10 years. Were you ever his boss? No, I was never his boss. Sort of, maybe good. No, no. Well, some of

Nestor Aparicio  33:15

us don’t take direction. So well, this is why I need you, because I’m.