There's a moment I've seen in my office more times than I'd like to admit. Someone sits across from me, we've walked through their exam, I can see exactly what's going on with their nervous system, and I know we can help. Then we get to the good faith estimate, and I watch their face change. It's not that they don't want the care. They're doing math in their head, and the math is coming out to groceries or their health.
I never want anyone to have to make that choice. That's why I was so excited to sit down with Ernie Beckman of Jireon Capital on this episode. I first met Ernie at an upper cervical conference in Chicago, and within one conversation I could tell his heart was in the right place. He wasn't there to grab a list of names and disappear. He wanted to understand our profession and help us help more people.
Here's something people don't always realize about where I practice. When you hear "Orange County," you probably picture dollar signs. But everything here is relative. You make more, and you spend more. People are still struggling, and for the first part of this year, we had to turn away far too many people who simply couldn't make the numbers work. Upper cervical care is mostly cash based because insurance companies don't recognize it yet, and the training and technology it takes to do this work well is a real investment. That cost has to land somewhere.
Ernie fell into consumer financing back in 2005, helping people spread out payments for things like car repairs and furniture. As he put it, you need a new couch and you don't have $1,500, so how do you pay for it? Let me explain it this way. We finance the car that gets us to work every day without thinking twice. Why wouldn't we make it just as easy to invest in the nervous system that runs every single thing we do?
What blew me away is how simple Ernie's team has made it. Unless someone has an open, active bankruptcy, they get approved, and in the chiropractic space they're seeing approval rates between 97 and 99 percent. It's a soft credit pull, so applying won't hurt anyone's credit. The patient fills out a few details on their phone, gets an answer right there, and chooses 12 or 18 months with no interest. Ernie says once an office gets fluent in it, the whole thing takes less than five minutes.
I've watched this change the conversation in my own practice in just the last few months. We used to talk about what we could cut out of a care plan to make it fit someone's budget. Now the question is, when do you want to get booked? And the best part is what comes next. Can I bring my uncle? Can my cousin come in? Can my son get checked? The answer is always yes.
I'll be honest, I had my hesitations about financing companies in the past because of what it costs the doctor. Ernie helped me see it differently. If someone was going to walk out the door without care, then 100 percent of zero dollars is still zero. He calls it found money, and he's right. More importantly, it's a person who gets help instead of going without.
This matters so much to me personally. I grew up in the Midwest, and my whole life changed when I received a Blair upper cervical correction. It helped me think more clearly and become a better human, and it led me all the way to Orange County to do this work. When someone's nervous system gets regulated, they become a better employee, a better spouse, a better neighbor. That ripples out into everything.
I also have to share a little story about Ernie's personal touch. While he was helping get my practice set up, he caught a gap in my business paperwork that I had no idea existed. I was on vacation, and my team had strict orders not to bug me, so Ernie texted me directly. It was something that truly needed handling that day, and I'm so grateful he reached out. That's what real partnership looks like. Ernie and his team have even committed to giving back a percentage to the Blair Chiropractic Society for every doctor who uses their services, which means more people around the world get access to this care.
And then there's the name. Jireon comes from Jehovah Jireh, a biblical name for God that means "the Lord will provide." I just love that. Sometimes provision shows up as a miracle, and sometimes it shows up as a five minute application that finally lets you say yes to the care you've been putting off.
If cost has been the thing standing between you and getting your head on straight, don't count yourself out. Ask your doctor what options they have. If you're in Southern California, come see me. If you already have a Blair doctor you love, tell your dentist or your PT about this too, because everyone deserves access to the care they need.
Listen to the full conversation with Ernie Beckman on the Well Connected Podcast: Live Your Life in Alignment. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
Find Ernie at linkedin.com/in/erniebeckman. Find us at wellconnectedchiro.com.
