Podcast Summary: The Charlie Kirk Show

Episode: Breaking the Medicare Cartel

Host: Charlie Kirk
Guest: Kobi Blumenfeld Gantz, founder of Chapter/AskChapter.com
Date: August 21, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the challenges, inefficiencies, and "cartel-like" behaviors within the Medicare advisory industry. Charlie Kirk interviews Kobi Blumenfeld Gantz, founder and CEO of Chapter, about his company’s mission to reform how Americans enroll in and navigate Medicare, exposing industry misaligned incentives and inefficiencies, and discussing broader government waste and the application of technology and AI in improving public services.

Main Topics & Key Discussion Points

1. The Origins and Purpose of Chapter/AskChapter.com

• Personal Inspiration:
  • Kobi was motivated by his family’s struggles with Medicare enrollment and outdated advice, realizing many seniors are pushed into inappropriate or overpriced plans due to advisor incentives.
  • “They frankly got screwed. They were far overpaying for a plan they didn't need.” – Kobi (03:13)
• What Chapter Does:
  • Provides unbiased, technology-enabled Medicare and retirement advisory services that put the individual’s needs above commission structures.
  • “If there's a Medicare plan that suits their needs, even if it’s one we don’t earn any money on, we will still enroll someone… because it’s the right thing to do.” – Kobi (11:20)

2. The "Medicare Cartel": Industry Structure, Problems, and Reform

• Advisor Incentives & Industry Corruption:
  • Most Medicare advisors act as brokers, heavily incentivized by commissions (especially Medicare Advantage plans), not by what’s best for the client.
  • DOJ investigations ongoing into industry practices.
  • “Pretty much every American who's working with a Medicare advisor today is not getting the best guidance for their needs. That's 70 million people.” – Kobi (04:14)
  • “The Medicare cartel is doing a lot of harm.” – Charlie (07:29)
• Complexity & Confusion:
  • Many Americans (half to 60%) use advisors because the process is so complicated and direct enrollment offers no price advantage.
  • “It's not one Medicare plan, Part B, part A, B, C, D, all these letters, alphabet soup of Medicare.” – Kobi (03:44)
• Hidden Costs:
  • Despite widespread assumptions, enrollees often face premiums, co-pays, and prescription costs, the details of which are rarely made clear upfront.

3. Chapter's Disruptive Model

• Data and Technology:
  • Use of large-scale data integration to provide precise price and prescription coverage information, an industry first.
  • “If you want to know what your prescriptions are going to cost on a Medicare plan… there is not a single organization or company in the country other than Chapter that can tell you that with precision.” – Kobi (08:06)
• Aligned Incentives:
  • Advisors at Chapter are not paid based on which plan a person selects, eliminating biased recommendations.
  • “We align incentives… we think it creates a long-term relationship with the customer and it actually makes the end user the customer.” – Kobi (11:19)
• Impact and Scale:
  • Chapter serves hundreds of thousands of Americans, aiming for all Medicare-enrolled citizens.
  • “We're definitely the fastest-growing Medicare organization in the country… our goal is to help every American.” – Kobi (12:46)

4. Government Inefficiencies & Bureaucracy

• Civil Service and Contractor Bloat:
  • Federal inefficiencies stem from rigid HR policies, bureaucratic culture, and a ballooning reliance on high-cost consultants and contractors.
  • “The way that our government procures technology is really stuck in the stone age.” – Kobi (16:21)
  • “You have these contracts that go so far over budget and take so much longer to build… and then the government just says, oh well, let's just give them more money.” – Kobi (23:28)
• Example: Software Procurement:
  • Industrial-sized “cost-plus” contracts with little innovation or efficiency.
  • The government prefers to build in-house or use consulting giants, at huge cost, rather than adopt commercial solutions.

5. Broader Issues in Healthcare & Medicare

• Misallocation of Plans:
  • 70-90% of Americans are on the wrong Medicare plan for their needs.
• Utilization & Transparency Issues:
  • Seniors often can't access or fully utilize their plan benefits due to red tape.
  • “No price transparency… the downfall of American healthcare.” – Charlie (26:17)
• Incentives Misaligned Across Industry:
  • Short-term horizon for insurers, lack of preventative care emphasis, no longitudinal investment in individual health.
  • “Where's the incentive for them to make me healthier today rather than in 50 years? The longitudinal incentive just isn't there.” – Kobi (26:54)

6. The Role of Technology and Artificial Intelligence

• AI as Efficiency Engine:
  • Applied AI automates call reviews and quality assurance for Medicare consultations, ensuring uniform service and spotting ethical lapses.
  • “We have an AI listen to 100% of calls, flag issues–much faster, much more real-time and at much lower cost.” – Kobi (28:39)
• Broader AI Perspective:
  • Kobi is both an “accelerationist and a skeptic,” seeing AI as an evolutionary but not metaphysically unique technology.
  • Main concern: over-reliance without human oversight, and the risk of AI being seen as an all-knowing “omniscient being.”
  • “I think people will rely on it far too much without human oversight…” – Kobi (31:32)

7. Philosophy, Religion, and Technology

• Interesting philosophical side-trip on AI vs. religious belief and the prevalence of “simulation theory” as a secular stand-in for theism (36:00–38:15).
  • “Simulation posits a designer. For me, the reason I grew up a conservative Jew …it's about the discipline and the forced introspection…” – Kobi (37:32)

Notable Quotes

• On Industry Structure:
  • "Most to all [advisors] don't have the data or the really expertise to be effective." – Kobi (04:46)
• On Customer Alignment:
  • "A really simple way to think about in any market, where are the incentives is who is the customer?" – Kobi (11:19)
• On Government Waste:
  • "It's made [the government] dramatically less efficient." – Kobi, on contractor dependence (21:01)
• On Technology in Government:
  • "The way that our government procures technology is really stuck in the stone age." – Kobi (16:21)
• On Healthcare Misalignment:
  • "70 to 90% of Americans are on the wrong Medicare plan for their needs." – Kobi (24:46)
• On AI Caution:
  • “It’s very hard to have a thing that humans have built as compared to an omniscient being. And I think that's very dangerous.” – Kobi (31:37)

Important Segments & Timestamps

• 02:05 – 03:29: Kobi’s personal story and reason for founding Chapter
• 04:14 – 07:22: The “Medicare cartel”; industry incentives and widespread inefficiency
• 08:06 – 09:18: How Chapter aligns incentives and applies technology
• 12:46 – 13:12: Chapter's scale, mission, and success stories
• 14:01 – 16:20: Broader inefficiencies in government HR and technology procurement
• 18:05 – 19:34: Palantir example; government reluctance to buy external software
• 20:31 – 21:00: The contractor class and inefficient government consulting
• 24:46 – 26:23: Waste in Medicare: plan misalignment, utilization & transparency troubles
• 28:22 – 29:58: Use of AI for Medicare coaching and monitoring
• 30:45 – 32:13: Views on AI regulation, reliability, and risks
• 36:00 – 38:15: Simulation theory and religious worldview
• 39:42 – 40:39: Success stories and impact metrics from Chapter’s users

Success Stories & Impact

• Direct Impact:
  • "Last week a woman emailed in saying that we saved her $31,000 on her prescriptions because she was on a plan that didn't have any of her prescription coverage… on average, we save people $1,000 to $2,000 a year." – Kobi (39:42, 40:20)
• Quality of Life:
  • “There's… the peace of mind and the security that comes because Medicare is not just healthcare, it's really the on ramp to retirement and people need this security.” – Kobi (40:34)

Analysis of Political Challenges

• On Healthcare Messaging:
  • Republicans seen as cost-cutters, Democrats as service-expanders. Neither party has constructed a compelling future vision for healthcare.
  • "No one's really created a shared vision for what the future of healthcare should be, for what the future health system should be. I don't think either party has done a particularly good job at it." – Kobi (42:06)

How to Take Action

• Anyone can get a free Medicare coverage analysis at askchapter.com, including current enrollees.
  • “It's totally free. So we encourage anyone to give us a call if they have any questions or just want to know if they’re already on the right coverage.” – Kobi (42:26)

Episode Tone

The conversation is fast-paced, combative about systemic injustice (“cartel” language), but ultimately solution-oriented. Both Charlie and Kobi stress practical reform—through better technology, aligned incentives, and transparency—and welcome seniors and their families to challenge the status quo by looking at alternatives like Chapter.

For more information or to check your Medicare coverage:
Visit askchapter.com
Email questions: freedom@charliekirk.com

Summary prepared for listeners who want the substance, spirit, and key takeaways from a wide-ranging, reform-minded conversation on Medicare and modern public sector inefficiency.