Employer health care costs have risen 70% over the last decade while wages have grown just 30%. Kirat Kharode, CEO and Founder of HealCo, joins the Startup Junkies Podcast's Fuel Accelerator health tech series to break down why self-funded employer health plans are becoming unsustainable, and how HealCo's governance layer helps route employees to lower-cost, high-quality care before costs spiral.
In this episode:
- Why self-funded health plans are under more scrutiny than ever
- The site-of-entry problem driving up specialty care costs
- How HealCo's governance and routing model works
- What a real cost-savings diagnostic looks like for employers
- Why Northwest Arkansas is fertile ground for this kind of infrastructure
This episode is part of our Fuel Accelerator series
⏱️ Chapters:
00:18 – Welcome & the Fuel Accelerator health tech cohort
00:42 – Meet Kirat Kharode, CEO & Founder of HealCo
01:00 – 20 years inside hospital C-suites
01:26 – Inside the self-funded health plan landscape
02:07 – Why costs are outpacing wages
03:06 – Site of entry: where health costs really start
04:02 – Specialty care and the $15K vs. $50K cost divide
05:33 – HealCo's origin story and validation lab
06:36 – Building the governance layer and how employees benefit
09:06 – Sponsor: RISE Arkansas
09:33 – Validating the model & where self-funded care is headed
11:48 – HealCo's 5-year vision, case studies & broker demand
15:49 – Why Northwest Arkansas, plus advice for CFOs
18:50 – Connect with Kirat + episode wrap-up
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Connect with Kirat & HealCo
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The Startup Junkies Podcast is brought to you in part by RISE, helping Arkansas tech and tech-enabled startups grow with no-cost coaching, capital navigation, and expert connections. Learn more at RiseArkansas.org.
What is The Startup Junkies Podcast?
Candid conversations with the founders, operators, and investors building companies in Northwest Arkansas and beyond.
The Startup Junkies Podcast is hosted by Jeff Amerine, founder of Startup Junkie, a Northwest Arkansas organization that has provided no-cost consulting, programs, and events to entrepreneurs for more than 15 years. Each week Jeff and the Startup Junkie team sit down with people who have actually done it: first-time and serial founders, small business owners, investors, accelerator alumni, and the ecosystem builders working alongside them.
Expect real stories, not lectures. How they got started, how they found their first customers, how they raised money or chose not to, what nearly broke them, and what they would do differently. Topics range from validating an idea and finding capital to hiring, marketing, leadership, scaling, and selling the business.
With more than 450 episodes since 2015, the back catalog covers nearly every stage of building a company in Arkansas and the Mid-South. If you are starting something, growing something, or helping founders do either, this show is for you.
This feed also carries Querido Emprendedor, our Spanish-language founder series, and the Fuel Podcast, featuring companies from Startup Junkie's Fuel Accelerator.
New episodes weekly. Show notes, transcripts, and the full archive at startupjunkie.org/podcast.
Startup Junkie's mission: improving lives through innovation and entrepreneurship, from Northwest Arkansas around the globe.