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 stagnation to how misaligned incentives have created a medical industrial complex, this episode dives deep into the uncomfortable truth: only 20 cents of every healthcare dollar reaches doctors, nurses, and clinicians. The rest? Lost in layers of middlemen, bureaucracy, and profit-driven waste.

Chelsea and Zeev explore how employer-sponsored healthcare became the backbone of American coverage, why primary care has been stripped of its purpose, and how direct primary care (DPC) and CEO engagement can completely change the game for employees and organizations alike. If you’re an executive, benefits advisor, or HR leader who knows there has to be a better way, this conversation will challenge everything you think you know about healthcare financing, delivery, and reform.

Listen to this episode if you want to:

• Understand how healthcare financing and delivery actually intersect
• Learn how direct primary care can lower costs and improve outcomes
• Hear real examples of CEOs transforming employee health and culture
• Be inspired to rethink your benefits strategy without the sales fluff

Time Stamps:
00:00 — Welcome to The Business of Benefits
02:15 — Dr. Zeev Neuwirth’s journey from clinician to system reformer
06:40 — The truth about the “medical industrial complex”
12:10 — Where your healthcare dollars really go
18:45 — The failure of traditional primary care
24:10 — Why CEOs are the missing link in healthcare transformation
30:40 — Lessons from the Rosen Hotels model
37:20 — Following the money: the employer’s power to change healthcare
43:30 — The caregiving crisis and what leaders often overlook
47:00 — Final thoughts and resources

Get more on our Guest at: Dr. Zeev Neuwirth
Author of Reframing Healthcare and Beyond the Walls
Podcast: Host of Creating a New Healthcare Podcast
Learn more: zevnewworthhealth.com

Whether you're an HR professional, CFO, CEO, or just tired of rising healthcare costs, this is your call to rethink benefits strategy and finally take control.

Connect with Chelsea and Donovan:
Website: https://businessofbenefitspodcast.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ethoseffectpodcast/
Chelsea: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-ryckis-8508a192/
Donovan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donovanryckis/

Finished with the content? Claim your CE credit here: https://ideas.ethosbenefits.com/continuing-education

SHRM: Ethos Benefits is recognized by SHRM to offer professional development credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.

HRCI: Ethos Benefits is approved to offer HRCI® recertification credits for this program. This program has been approved for 0.5 - 1 HR (General) recertification credit(s) toward aPHR®, PHR®, SPHR®, and GPHR® certification.