Summary: We’ve all experienced illness and disease and even aging. But those are not the only things that are attacking your wellness. The US Healthcare system has failed to evolve, like other industries, and instead it’s remained fragmented and inefficient and simply unable to keep up with the changing needs of our citizens. Particularly those of Medicare age and veterans.<br> But there is hope. Whether it’s you or a loved one that gets put on to the healthcare battle field, the best time to prepare is now. In this episode, Darwin Hale, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-Yourself-Healthcare-Battlefield-ebook/dp/B07D9VCH2C/&tag=authorhour-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Need to Know</a> and a decorated retired military officer with more than twenty years in the healthcare arena, is going to show you the practical strategies to manage the system’s flaws, based on military lessons learned.<br> Some of his solutions include:<br> <br> * How to navigate a system that can cure or kill you<br> * How to use wellness to fight disease<br> * How to arm yourself with a battle plan so you don’t have to fight alone<br> <br> By the end of this episode, you’ll know how to take care of yourself and how to get the care you deserve.<br> <br> <br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-Yourself-Healthcare-Battlefield-ebook/dp/B07D9VCH2C/&tag=authorhour-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>Get Darwin’s new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-Yourself-Healthcare-Battlefield-ebook/dp/B07D9VCH2C/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Need to Know</a> on Amazon.<br> Find out more at <a href="darwinhale.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DarwinHale.com</a>.<br> <br> <br> Darwin Hale: When I was in Afghanistan, working in the joint operations center, I wanted to write a book to help people understand what was happening in the world. I had a knack for helping people understand complex things in an unbiased way. Doesn’t matter your political party.<br> My friend’s spouses would say, “Hey, you know, you better run the world, you’ve done this in the military.” I kind of felt like I needed to share that. I got the title and the desire there and it was a pretty heavy topic.<br> Ultimately, they captured or killed Osama Bin Laden, and I was doing other things and had a family. As a not so young man, but my mother had asked me for help with Medicare when she turned 65.<br> <br> So fast forward a little bit past my deployment, and I couldn’t help her.<br> <br> I didn’t understand Medicare. So I had an accomplished military career, had a good, corporate career, had an MBA, and as my mom turned to me for help, I actually had to turn to one of my friends from the military for help.<br> I thought, gosh, if I’m having a tough time making these decisions or helping her make those decisions, probably other people will too.<br> That was really the genesis for my company and for writing the book.<br> <br> Getting a Handle on Health<br> Charlie Hoehn: When did you first really have a breakthrough or I guess I should say a real grasp on the topic? How long did that take? <br> Darwin Hale: You know, it took a long time. I was working as the AT&T healthcare director. My very first job in healthcare was researching national healthcare policies for Senator Graham in Florida right out of college, trying to find my way. Later, that allowed me to take a job at IBM and really interact with our customers and understand their needs.<br> Talking to all those accomplished people at an early age and taking lots of notes really helped me understand the landscape of the industry and concluded that it’s not a technology problem, per se, but that the industry faces and the other things.<br> And that was about a 20-year journey, and then even in the final stages of the book, I still learned things about the future that I didn’t know.<br>
