In 2010, David Tedrow was told he had around five more years to live. A debilitating diagnosis caused him to close his established business, forget how to do things like answer the phone and enter a financial nightmare of countless hospital visits.
This month, Tedrow became a recipient of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2018 Small Business of the Year award.
Four small business owners throughout the state received the award, which is decided by the department’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Tedrow’s recognition came for Durham-based Senior Health Insurance Brokers, a brokerage focused on specializing Medicare plans that he started May 2017 with his wife, Mary.
According to the department’s press release, it “recognizes the success of clients who overcame disability to become self-employed and highlights community and state partners who provide critical support to entrepreneurs with disabilities.”
Tedrow said that most single-person health insurance agencies have around 35 clients after their first year. Earlier this month, Senior Health hit client number 90.
Until his life was upended by end-stage liver disease at the age of 54, he never expected to be in the position he’s now being honored for.
Making changes
“We closed our business, sold our house and prepared for a liver transplant,” Tedrow said. “And that entailed a lot of things.”
Tedrow discovered he had non-alcoholic cirrhosis, which comes from excessive scarring in the liver. The disease causes severe liver dysfunction until eventual failure, along with a litany of residual effects on the body. It was genetic to Tedrow.
Previous to the diagnosis, he and Mary ran a jewelry store in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. They considered it the place they would spend the rest of their lives.
One of the symptoms of the disease is an accumulation of toxins like ammonia in the brain. For Tedrow, that meant a loss of many essential brain functions, like the ability to open the car door and count change. It also led to the realization that he could no longer effectively run his store.
“When a tiny, 3-carat diamond costs $30,000 or $40,000 and you can’t remember things like that, you stand to lose a lot of money very quickly,” Tedrow said.
After entering medical retirement, he and his wife downsized their lives and moved to Durham. They continued working to find a viable transplant candidate, a process that often proves unsuccessful due to lack of liver donors available for people needing transplants.
Costly visits to the hospital piled up, and eventually Tedrow lost his health insurance.
He said his liver completely shut down near the end of March 2014.
On April 3, 2014, what he called “within days of dying,” a liver was found that uniquely matched Tedrow’s body type.
The transplant operation carried high risk and led to other long-term health effects, but it saved his life. He said he was fortunate and blessed, as many other people in need of transplants die before a match is found.
“There is a definite need for more donors,” Tedrow said.
Getting back into the workforce
He said the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, saved his life. Tedrow has been a public advocate for the law, but a year after his transplant, he became eligible for Medicare. He said he didn’t fully understand the health insurance program, which is offered to Americans age 65 or older and younger ones with certain disabilities, and began to learn everything he could about it.
That led him to the Senior Health Insurance Information Program. It’s designed to advise Medicare-eligible patients on their best options for health care plans, and receives state funding and sponsorship. The advisors formed a plan for Tedrow that they decided was most beneficial in his case.
After going home and looking over their plan, Tedrow “re-read the entire Medicare manual,” and came up with his own plan.
“I called them up, went in and met with them, and they said, ‘You know what? That sounds like a good idea,’” Tedrow said. “Then, they looked at me and said, ‘You know what? How would you like a job?’”
Tedrow became a voluntary Medicare counselor with the program. He couldn’t work full-time, as he was going through vocational rehab and trying to get off disability.
After two years of volunteering, Tedrow thought of a way to work around his disability and make a salary comparable to his previous one
“It just was right in front of my face to open up my own company,” Tedrow said. “That way I’m not going to have to worry about finding an employer that’s going to accept my limitation, my disabilities.”
With that, Senior Health Insurance Brokers was born.
Creating a successful health care brokerage his own way
He had a lot of work ahead of him, needing to acquire multiple licenses and certifications, establish Senior Health as an actual business entity and continue building his own understanding of the industry.
The key to his ability to grow the company so quickly, Tedrow said, has been building his own personal knowledge through things like reading Medicare-related publications and attending development courses.
Tedrow called Senior Health a “niche company,” focusing its services on all Medicare products and products that effect Medicare-eligible patients. He calls it “one-stop shopping” for Medicare patients. He operates as the company’s only broker, with Mary running the office and the books.
He said Mary is working on acquiring her license and becoming a broker. Senior Health also plans to add one or two more brokers soon, as its client-base expands.
The extra help will be needed, as Tedrow’s health continues to be a major roadblock.
He will be immunosuppressed for the rest of his life following the transplant. That means his body is much more vulnerable to illnesses.
He mentioned big holiday parties he and his wife used to hold annually that they no longer can, due to the risk his body faces being around so many people. He can’t go to movie theaters unless it’s at a time of day when the theater will be nearly empty.
Last year, Tedrow spent 30 days in the hospital, with some of those being dedicated to a surgery he needed. At this point in 2018, he’s spent 26 days in hospitalization due to an infection he contracted from that surgery.
Despite that, Tedrow remains grateful he can work full-time in the workforce again, and his focus remains squarely on Senior Health. Speaking to the long-term value of his company, Tedrow said its independence is how it will continue to grow.
“I’m not a captive agent,” Tedrow said. “I’m not working for a particular company. I’m not working for BlueCross/BlueShield, I’m not working for Humana, I’m not working for Aetna. I’m working for you.”
