In this recap of the Disrupt Healthcare Podcast, host Lester J. Morales breaks down a powerful conversation with Dean Jargo, CEO of Fair Market Health, whose personal story and financial background expose a truth most employers never hear:
👉 Healthcare isn’t a healthcare problem. It’s a finance problem.
Dean—longtime CFO and free-market advocate—shares how his wife’s cancer and emergency heart surgery forced him into the system as a consumer, not an executive. In that vulnerable moment, even a numbers expert couldn’t make sense of the bills, the stress, or the total lack of transparency. And that’s the point.
The system is designed to be confusing.
But it doesn’t have to be.
Lester recaps the key themes of the conversation, including:
Why the real payers of healthcare (employers & employees) are separated from the sellers of healthcare (hospitals & providers)
How misaligned incentives make premiums go up every year—while benefits get worse
The insane friction created by deductibles, out-of-pocket costs & denied access
Why direct contracting and fair-market pricing consistently save 35–40% on big-ticket procedures
The emotional and financial toll on families navigating the system while dealing with serious medical events
Why CFOs need to stop delegating benefits decisions and start treating them like the massive P&L line item they are
Why the status quo carriers have no incentive to change—and why real reform must come from inside the industry
This episode is a must-listen for employers, CFOs, benefits advisors, HR leaders, and anyone tired of feeling powerless in the healthcare system.
If you’ve ever thought:
“There has to be a better way…”
—this recap outlines exactly what that better way looks like.
