How an Army Veteran Simplifies Medicare for Thousands

All these Medicare plans, they have their own features.

My job is to help them read the lines. Like, what do these numbers mean?

“That's where I come in as a broker to educate them that...”

Krista Angelus is a U.S. Army veteran, entrepreneur, and the founder of Dark Horse Insurance Solutions. She helps individuals, families, veterans, and small businesses make confident health care and insurance decisions through trusted guidance, education, and personalized coverage solution.

Work with an honest broker. Just like a doctor, you know, they're good and bad doctors. They're good and bad brokers. You want to find that someone who is trustworthy in, you know, who's not going to lead you astray.

How do you see health insurance today? The honest answer or the not so honest answer? I guess you lay down with the honest answer, like... I'm just going to put it this way. Internet helpers?

Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over, I'm telling how we're... The living your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. That's extremely great. That's awesome, though, yes.

Oh, that is sensational. Look, it's open. Check out what was the latest and Paul is about this man on the planet. You can live your dream. Hey, welcome back, everyone, to another episode of "Living Your Legacy Podcasts"

on your host again, Jason Langer, and we're down here in sunny Miami Beach. And we got a special Filipino guest with us. You know, I'm half Filipino, so I'm very happy to have you here with us in the studios today.

“What's your name and what's your business and where are you from?”

Yes, hi there. My name is Christa Angelis. My business is Dark Horse Insurance Solutions. And gosh, I go between San Antonio, Texas, and Anaheim, California. Okay, so yeah, you said you spent a lot of time in California.

Just Southern California, right? Have you compare Southern California to Texas? Oh, gosh, California cannot beat the food, right? I'm such a foodie, I love the access to the water. But you know what, equally like San Antonio, they have their own...

Oh, my gosh, you know, food places. And it's a different vibe, different culture. I love them equally. You love them equally. Yes.

Really, wow. Okay.

Is one more multicultural than the other, or I've never been in San Antonio, Texas.

So I mean, that's saying a lot, like you were like LA and all that, right? Right. Yes, San Antonio is, I would say predominantly Latino. There's always going to be a Mexican restaurant on every corner. Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, like being a foodie, I love, I miss diversity. Yeah. And you know, how California is such a melting pot, you know, you have all these people from different backgrounds, different countries, different cultures, like mush together. Yeah.

So that is something that I guess were slowly seeing in San Antonio, but, you know, it's getting there. Okay. Yeah. You're in the insurance industry, all right, so tell us about Dark Horse Insurance.

What's that all about? Yes. Absolutely. So Dark Horse Insurance Solutions is an insurance agency that focuses on property and casualty, life and health.

We handle everything except auto. Mm. Yeah. And there's a lot to handle. I mean, the insurance companies, it just seems like they're just trying to take advantage

of everyone when you get into the insurance and you think, okay. I finally got insurance. They're going to take care of me, but it's really not that way, right? They're going to try to, you know, it's almost like swindle you into getting bad deals.

“And that's why I've been to people like you, right?”

So you're kind of like, are going to war with us or you're the one that helps us find the secret deals that seems like, right? So like, what are you doing, how are you helpful to people? Absolutely. So I'm a broker, right?

So what I do is I do have different contracts representing different insurance carriers. So every insurance company, they have or policy, they have their own features, right? So it's not a one size fit all. So to be able to provide options to my clients, I think that's great because there's no perfect solution.

You want to be able to find what's a good fit for an individual, right? You have your own needs, right? But it doesn't mean that insurance A would be the best fit for you. What if there are others? So my job is to filter that out for you.

So we can tune out the noise, basically.

Okay. Yeah. So let me see here. I, you had this story, right, during filming of helping someone find, you know, they

It's for their diabetes, yeah, yeah.

And then so tell us about that story. That was really interesting. Yeah. Absolutely. So we have to keep in mind that all these Medicare plans, right?

They have their own features. They have their own, my job is to help them read the lines, like what do these numbers mean? Things like that. Sometimes a plan is more expensive than the other because of, let's say, the

doctorable, right? Or let's say that that specific plan that my client has is not a good fit for her because of her medications, right? So that's where I come in as a broker to educate them that, hey, you know, it might

“have other features that are enticing, but your prescriptions are very important, right?”

Because otherwise, it's a life in life in that situation, right? You need that medication to live, right? So in order for me to, you know, put them in a, in a better situation, I want to bring down that cost in a way that's not going to break their back, but at the same time, would give them the need that they want, you know, that medication that they need without having

to pay so much. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing.

I mean, when, when someone's on a fixed income and they're, and they're elderly, right? They don't want to go into all the details of insurance and everything. They just want to say, hey, look, I just need my medication. I can't afford five hundred, not many people can afford a five hundred dollars, right? I just feel like that's so unfair, but yeah, for you to help her out and find that plan

where it was only forty seven dollars a month, that's like a life in the situation, right? Yeah. Yeah.

“This is Operation CEO, right, and you were in the, in the army, right?”

Yes. So, I mean, I don't know, if you're listening to this podcast or if you're watching it, right? She's like a tiny Filipino woman, right? And you think, how does this tiny little woman endure boot camp, which is what you think

of like the most hardcore, you know, thing out there, right? So, yeah, why did you join the army as an immigrant and then how did you survive boot camp? Right. Oh, my goodness.

I've always been into witness stuff activities, like, oh, my gosh.

So I wanted to challenge myself. This was 2008, and I had that gap time between completing my, my, my credits at the junior college, they see to the university. So, I walked into the recruiters office and I said, I'm going to enlist in the army, right? Without my parents knowing, so I signed a dotted line, you know, completing that paperwork

when I came home, I said, Mommy, I'm going to Fort Jackson South Carolina. I just like that is so crazy. No, that was that was crazy, right? Because number one, I mentioned to you earlier, right, that I have never ran in my life. Yeah.

So, with my first BT test physical fitness test in the army, I failed to run, did not finish DNF, that was what, what's on my scorecard, DNF. So how long was that run? Oh, my gosh. So, for my age at that time, I was 24, so think I had 20, two minutes to complete that.

Okay. And how far? I did not finish two miles. Two miles. Okay.

I never read anything. Is it with the backpack or it's just running? Just yourself. Okay. And so you didn't finish, right?

“So you were, you were struggling, wasn't it embarrassing?”

To me, what? Was there many people that didn't finish or on the you?

I think the very first time, there were a lot of people.

Okay. On the same boat. All right. So it's less of a bad thing. And then, you know, the following, the following, the next time, I think I failed it again,

but I passed the very last time, you know, the only last time, the last time is the best one to pass, right? Yes. But, you know, what to answer your question, though, how did I, how did I finish that? How did I, you know, graduate, right, gosh, I think everything was mental.

You know, I have that motivation to, to complete the, the boot camp, like I wanted to graduate on time, you know, not to be a whole dover, you know, so I didn't, I want to graduate with my peers. So that was my, that was my motivation. I told myself, we're going to do this.

So even with my last PT test, even if I was, I felt like I was dying, I told myself, come on. Let's do it, you know, do it for the graduation, do it for your mom. Yeah, yeah, do it so you can go back to California, you know, so yeah, so yeah, I mean,

have an either.

So, what's it like, how long is it, what's the hardest thing about boot camp?

So, shock, how long was it? I think it was nine weeks, nine weeks, I think so, when I was back in 2008, if my memory serves me, yeah, so we had different phases, if I can remember. So there was the red face blue face and white face or something like that. So every face had red, white and blue, yeah, they had their own set of milestones that

“you need to hit because for us activities, things like that.”

So once once your company completes that face, then, you know, how like they have a flag or, we get a streamer, you know, we get a streamer for completing each phases, right? And so red face was, what's the hardest, you know, that's where they really break it down into a soldier, you know, what's that, what's that, I mean, breaking you down into a soldier.

Shocked, like, okay, so physically, mentally, you do all of these obstacle courses, you have obstacle courses, that's where you, you're going to be issued a weapon and M16, okay, you learn how to stay.

The first time holding a weapon, right, yes, and we were never, we were told not to call it

a gun because it's not a gun, it's a, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're M16, right, Paul, right, yes, you know, we had to learn how to take care of it, right, we had to learn how to shoot, right?

“So we had to qualify, you know, with our weapon, right?”

And then, let's see, that was it, shooting, the first time she was. I sat bad at it, yeah, so you're not good at the, that's I'm running, you're not good at the studio, right? God, everything was, it was a God's grace, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then they also break you down mentally, right?

Yeah, they had to break you down mentally, oh, my goodness, yes, so, you know what, I'm going to say this. So after you graduate from bootcamp, you will learn to appreciate the luxuries of life we tend to take for granted, you know, during the meantime, childhood, you only have two minutes to eat the chew and swallow your food, and then you have the drill sergeant,

you know, like watching you eat, right? So it can even taste the food, you know, and then no soda was just water, you know? And then, yeah, we had our own, what is it? Like sleep time, 2100, and then you wake up for BT, right? That was at 0, 5 or 0, 530, yeah, and then depending on what exercise or activity, the

drill sergeants have planned for you guys, it could be like a 2 mile run, company run, it could be calisthenics and a number of things. Also crawling in the mud, crawling in the mud, yes, you know, you're playing soldier, right? So were you the smallest person in your life?

We had another female, yeah, and then I was like the second shortest, smallest, yeah, okay, yeah.

So you're like one of the smallest, and you're one of two females. I think there were shocks eight, eight female, it's not a comedy. I don't remember, 40, 40, okay, yeah, all right, and so how was it, being a girl, did were the girls aim at the stick together or they completely broke that up? So in our barracks, you know, where we sleep, you know, yeah, the female stayed together

and then the males had their own, yeah, all right, so was that like your tribe? Yeah, there were myself and to other females from California, yeah, I remember very, yeah. So the candy girls stuck together. Yeah, one of them, she's still in my Facebook, so I care and good to see you here, hope you're watching, listening, so yeah.

All right, but yeah, I mean, it seems like you learned a lot of skills, ever able to help you later on in life. Yeah, so when I graduated from my boot camp, right? So I kind of missed that, that lifestyle, so I, I mean, oh my gosh, I want more, I joined Army ROTC at Cal State Fullerton, right?

So while I was simultaneously completing my college degree, I was, you know, I was in the ROTC program and then when I finished my degree, I also commissioned that same year to become an officer that was 2011 and then from there, you know, God had other plans for me. He said, okay, Krista, I know you commissioned reserves, but, you know, we're going to put

you on active duty status here in Los Alamedos, California.

“So wow, so basically that's how my Army life continued.”

Yeah, yeah, would you recommend other, other people to join the Army? I would say yes, why not, you know, if you feel like you have that calling, you want to

I mean, you, you, you seem like the person that, if, you know, anyone that looks at you, would it be like, you were in the Army, you know, like, it, it just seems so, like, the opposite of something you would do, right? Yeah. And you're like, oh, wow, I wanted to challenge this and to go through boot camp.

That's like, wow, that's a major, major challenge, you know? Right. But then you became a fitness instructor, right? Yes. Yes.

I deployed in 2014, right? And then got back. So I was gone from February of 2014 through December 2014, right? Okay. And, and, and, and, where were you?

“I was in Afghanistan, and so I lost so much weight, I think I was at 88 pounds, right?”

Wow. But when, when, when I was, yeah, when, when we were told that we were, you know, we're going home, I told myself, I wanted to do something different for my life. And so, I was looking for a fitness coach, you know, in Southern California, because I saw this girl, she competed, and I said, I want to challenge myself, me and, you know, challenging

myself, challenging yourself, right? So I look for a coach, found this coach, and she said, um, do you want to compete on stage, you know?

And I said, I've never done it before, that's where I had to do it, you know?

Okay. And that's how it started. So my friends have seen my transformation photos, they saw me, I guess, like, working out, you know, pushing sleds, doing lunges, all sorts of stuff, curling barbells, things like that.

So, I have, I have gained, you know, muscle, you know, for my preparation for that show, that attracted, you know, the females to, I guess, work with me. Yes. Nice. Right.

So, yeah, back, back to health insurance, right? How do you see health insurance today? Oh, wow. Do you want the answer, the honest answer or the not so honest answer, or does it mean I, I guess, I guess, you lay down with the honest answer, like, okay, I'm just going to put it this

way, um, always read the fine print, right, and I would say work with an honest broker.

Yeah. So, yeah, tell us the importance of working with broker. Why? Why do many people like you? Right.

So, kind of, like, you go to a doctor and they have a specialty, let's say, knock on wood, you know, somebody gets diagnosed with a kidney disease.

“So they go with a, like, a kidney doctor, right, or an astrologist, right?”

So it's same with me. So that is my full-time job, um, I live in breed insurance, you know, especially Medicare. So you want to go with someone who is knowledgeable because that's, that's their expertise. Yeah. But just like, like a doctor, you know, and they're a good and bad doctors, they're a good

and bad brokers. You want to find that someone who is trustworthy and, you know, who's not going to lead you astray. Yeah. So someone, like, like yourself after learning so much about, you know, health insurance

and, and the industry, you're like, oh my God, I would never get into this without

have someone like, you know, like myself, right? I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of, you know, that's small print that no one ever wants to read. Yes. Um, yeah.

Like, so are you, are you good at documents and, because you said in the army, you

“learned about, like, SOPs and, and all kinds of things that helped you prepare, right?”

So like, what kind of skills in the army helped you kind of transition into your business life? Yes. So along with my husband, because my husband's also a military, an army veteran, the attention to detail.

Yeah. So if I have this level of attention to the detail, like, he has, oh my gosh, it's, he should be a compliance officer, you know, so I trust my business and my life, you know, to my husband, he's, he's great. So yeah, so we, we do have checklists, we do have, you know, workflows, we do have systems.

So working in the operations side back when I was, you know, in the G3S3, you know, in the army, that translated to me, you know, to my business, knowing that these would help me fine-tune my workflow, you know, it's very important for me. So I don't miss any steps, you know, and if I ever get audited by Medicare, then I do have that documentation.

You know, it's very important, you know, I don't want to, I don't want to leave anything behind. I want to make sure everything is crisp, crystal clear, you know, just in case, you know, we get check, you know, things like that. You also said that you'll, you have backups, right?

Like in the military, it's like, it's always a backup, it's something goes wrong, you

Yes.

“So kind of backups, do you put in place with business wise?”

Good question. So, so let's say you come to me, or, you know, you send your mom or your dad for a Medicare policy, right? When I compare plants, I don't just offer one plan. I will give you three plants to choose from.

So just in case, one of the plants fail for whatever reason, the enrollment and go through did not process or whatnot. I do have the two others as a backup, you know, the same calibers as the first one.

I always ask you, what are you, what are you most excited about right now?

Yeah. Oh my goodness. I'm just excited about growth of dark horse insurance solutions.

“So honestly, right now we're active in three states, right?”

Although I do have eight licenses, but we're active in three states. So I guess we're doing a good job. So we would love to serve more individuals, and if there are any other agents who would

love to work alongside me and my husband, oh my gosh, we would love to work with you also.

Alright. And how can people find you? Yes. I am on Facebook.

“I am also on Instagram and our website is dark horse, ins.com, feel free to message me.”

Dark horse, ins.com. Yes. What's the social handles? So with my, with my Facebook, with my Facebook business account, it is dark horse insurance solutions.

Okay. And on my Instagram, it's it's my personal, it's zero seven, two, two, C, and B. Yes. That's me. That sounds like some military, you know, a quote, military code, officer of two, seven,

C, and B. Yeah. Alright, well, thank you so much for joining us.

It's been a pleasure having you, but first Filipino, that I've had in my studio.

We do know what Filipinos are doing, what are you guys doing, you're sleeping on it. So anyone listening out there, you know, some Filipinos, right, tell them to come contact us, hop in the studio, we'd love to have you. But yeah, thank you once again. Thank you so much.

Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you guys for joining us here at Inside Success, and join us again. Cheers everyone.