Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Spilsbury.
Hi Kate, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a fourth-generation Floridian, born and raised in Kissimmee, and I’ve called Jacksonville home since 2008. I never grew up thinking I would build a career in insurance, much less own an agency, but looking back, so many pieces of my journey seem to have led me here.
I entered the insurance industry in 2007 and began helping clients full-time in 2010. Early on, I realized there was an enormous gap between how complicated health insurance is and how well consumers are expected to understand it. Most people don’t wake up excited to learn about Medicare, health insurance, deductibles, networks, subsidies, or retirement benefits—but the decisions they make about those things can affect their healthcare, finances, and families for years.
The longer I worked in the industry, the more convinced I became that people didn’t need another salesperson. They needed someone willing to slow down, explain how things actually work, and help them understand the tradeoffs so they could make informed decisions for themselves.
That philosophy eventually led me to start Health Wealth Simplified, doing business as Mere Benefits. I built the agency around a very simple idea: insurance should be easier to understand. Our tagline, “Simply For Your Benefit,” really reflects what I wanted the business to become.
Today, we help individuals, families, retirees, self-employed individuals, and businesses navigate Medicare, individual and family health insurance, supplemental coverage, employee benefits, and other protection strategies across multiple states. My work has also expanded beyond traditional health insurance. I became a Registered Social Security Analyst® (RSSA®) and a Certified Medicare Insurance Planner™ (CMIP®), which has allowed me to bring an even broader perspective to conversations about Medicare, Social Security, healthcare costs, and retirement.
Education remains at the center of everything I do. I spend a tremendous amount of time teaching—through one-on-one consultations, community seminars, workshops, social media, articles, and presentations. I want someone to walk away from a conversation with me understanding why something may or may not make sense for them, not simply being told what to buy.
Building the business hasn’t always been easy. I’ve built it while raising two children, navigating enormous changes within the health insurance industry, making it through the uncertainty of COVID, learning how to hire and lead a team, and adapting constantly as regulations, products, and markets change. Entrepreneurship has required a lot of faith, perseverance, humility, and willingness to keep learning.
One of the most meaningful milestones came recently when Mere Benefits was recognized in the 2026 Best of Florida awards. We earned two Best of Florida wins as well as a regional second-place recognition in a third category. Receiving recognition across three categories was incredibly meaningful because this business has been built largely through relationships, education, referrals, and the trust people place in us. To see that work recognized in the state I’ve called home my entire life—especially as a fourth-generation Floridian—made it even more special.
But the moments that still mean the most to me happen one person at a time. It’s the client who calls because they finally understand Medicare after being terrified of making the wrong decision. It’s the family we help find a healthcare solution they didn’t realize existed. It’s catching a costly mistake before it happens or helping someone understand Social Security in a way that changes how they approach retirement.
Outside of work, I’m a wife, a mother of two, and an active member of my church and Sunday School teacher. Those parts of my life have shaped how I approach my business as much as anything I’ve learned professionally.
At the end of the day, I’ve realized that insurance really isn’t about insurance. It’s about people. It’s about protecting families, reducing uncertainty, helping people advocate for themselves, and giving them the confidence to make some of life’s most complicated financial and healthcare decisions.
That’s what I started trying to do years ago, one client at a time—and it’s still what drives me today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road—and I think most entrepreneurs would probably say the same.
One of the biggest challenges has been building a business in an industry where the ground is constantly moving underneath you. Health insurance and Medicare can change dramatically from one year to the next. Regulations change, carriers enter and leave markets, provider networks change, products disappear, technology changes, and the rules surrounding how we can market and serve clients continue to evolve. There is no point where you can say, “I’ve learned this industry, so now I’m done learning.”
Staying educated is practically a second full-time job, but people are trusting me with decisions that can affect both their healthcare and their finances, so I take that responsibility very seriously. Sometimes the most important thing I can do for a client is tell them that what worked beautifully for them last year may not be the best answer anymore.
There have also been all of the growing pains that come with entrepreneurship. For a long time, I wore nearly every hat in the business. I was the advisor, customer service department, marketer, administrator, problem solver, and business owner—often all in the same day. Eventually, I had to learn that growing a business wasn’t simply about becoming capable of doing more myself. It meant building systems, trusting other people, developing a team, and learning how to lead.
That transition has probably been one of my biggest areas of growth. When your business is something you’ve built from the ground up, handing pieces of it to other people can be difficult. But I’ve learned that I can’t serve more people well if everything depends on me personally.
There is also a side of entrepreneurship that isn’t talked about enough: the weight of responsibility. When you work for yourself, there isn’t necessarily someone above you to fix the problem when something goes wrong. Clients are depending on you. Your team is depending on you. Your family is depending on you. There have absolutely been seasons when I’ve worked extremely long days and wondered how I was going to keep all of the plates spinning.
Doing that while being a wife and raising two children has probably been the hardest balancing act of all. I love what I’ve built professionally, but I also know that my children are only little once. There have been moments when those two worlds have competed for my attention, and I don’t think I’ve discovered a perfect formula for balancing them. I’ve simply become much more intentional about recognizing what matters in each season.
COVID brought another level of uncertainty. Families and businesses were suddenly facing financial and healthcare decisions they never anticipated, while we were trying to navigate those same uncertainties ourselves. But it also reinforced something important for me: when life becomes complicated, people need trusted guidance even more.
There have been setbacks along the way. I’ve made investments that didn’t work out. I’ve trusted the wrong people at times. I’ve had ideas that were much better in theory than they were in practice. I’ve had to change direction, rebuild things I thought were already working, and learn some lessons the expensive way. There have also been plenty of moments when I’ve questioned myself and wondered whether I was doing enough or moving fast enough.
But one of the biggest things entrepreneurship has taught me is that success rarely looks like a straight line when you’re actually living it.
Sometimes growth looks like an exciting new opportunity or an award. Other times, it looks like recognizing something isn’t working and having the courage to change it. Sometimes it means saying yes, and sometimes it means finally learning to say no.
Every difficult season has made me more resilient, but I think it has also made me more compassionate. When a client comes to me overwhelmed, worried about money, afraid of making the wrong decision, or simply exhausted from trying to understand a complicated system, I understand that feeling of uncertainty.
So no, the road hasn’t been smooth. There have been some incredible highs and some very difficult seasons along the way. But when I look at the business I’ve built, the people we’ve been able to help, the team we’ve grown, and where we are today, I can absolutely say it has been worthwhile.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am the founder and principal broker of Mere Benefits, an independent insurance agency built around one central belief: people deserve to understand their options before they are asked to make decisions about their healthcare, finances, and future.
We help individuals, families, retirees, self-employed individuals, and businesses navigate health insurance, Medicare, supplemental insurance, employee benefits, Social Security, and other protection and retirement-related decisions. Because we are independent, our job isn’t to represent one insurance company or push one particular solution. Our job is to understand the person sitting in front of us, educate them about their options, and help them determine what makes the most sense for their individual circumstances.
That education-first approach is probably what we are best known for.
I’ve been licensed in the insurance industry since 2007 and have spent nearly two decades watching healthcare and insurance become increasingly complicated. There are more choices, more rules, more terminology, and unfortunately, more opportunities to make an expensive mistake. I’ve always believed that if someone is going to trust me with decisions this important, I have a responsibility to continually become better at what I do.
That commitment led me to earn both the Registered Social Security Analyst® (RSSA®) and Certified Medicare Insurance Planner™ (CMIP®) designations. The combination is relatively uncommon and allows me to look beyond an insurance product and have much broader conversations about how Medicare, Social Security, healthcare costs, and retirement decisions intersect.
In 2025, I took that commitment to education one step further and published my first book, Get It Right: Medicare & Social Security Unlocked: Avoid Mistakes, Maximize Your Benefits, and Make Confident Choices. I wrote it because I kept seeing the same thing: people approaching retirement were being handed an enormous amount of information but weren’t necessarily being given the context they needed to understand it. I wanted to create something that could help people recognize the decisions that matter, understand the mistakes to avoid, and know which questions they should be asking.
I’ve also been fortunate to receive recognition for my work throughout my career. Before becoming an independent broker, I was a top-producing agent for Florida’s largest health insurer for multiple years. As an independent broker, I’ve continued to be recognized nationally for production, including being the national top producer within Kannonball Insurance Solutions for the past two years.
One of our most exciting milestones came in 2026 when Mere Benefits received recognition in three categories in the Best of Florida awards—winning Best of Florida in two categories and earning second-place regional recognition in a third. As a fourth-generation Floridian, having a business I built recognized in this way in my home state was particularly meaningful. More importantly, I see those awards as a reflection of the trust our clients and communities have placed in us.
But I never want Mere Benefits to be known simply for awards or production numbers. What matters to me is how we do the work.
We don’t believe there is one “best” insurance plan for everyone. The best option depends on the person—their doctors, prescriptions, healthcare needs, finances, family situation, risk tolerance, and priorities. Sometimes our job is helping someone find coverage. Other times, it’s explaining why the option they already have may actually be the best choice. I want clients to understand not only what they are choosing but why they are choosing it.
That philosophy extends beyond our client work. Education and advocacy are both important parts of who I am professionally. I am involved with organizations including Health Agents for America Association (HAFA), the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals (NABIP), and Florida Voices for Health. Healthcare policy affects virtually every American, and I believe the people who work with consumers every day have an important perspective to bring to conversations about affordability, access, and how healthcare policy actually affects families and small businesses.
I’m equally committed to continuing to develop as a business owner and community leader. Over the years, I’ve participated in programs including the JMI Small Business Executive Program, Hightower Fellowship, Leadership Nassau, United Way Stein Fellowship, JAX Bridges, chamber leadership initiatives, and the St. Johns BFF Business Pods program. I’m also active in several chambers of commerce. I don’t ever want to reach a point where I believe I’ve learned enough—whether that’s about insurance, leadership, business, or the community I serve.
What I’m most proud of, though, is the reputation we’ve built for being a place people can come when they simply don’t know what to do.
People often find us during major transitions: turning 65, retiring, losing employer coverage, becoming self-employed, starting a business, facing a health diagnosis, trying to protect their family, or realizing that a decision they thought would be simple is much more complicated than expected. Those moments can be incredibly stressful.
Our job is to make them less so.
That’s really what the name Mere Benefits represents to me. We take something that can feel overwhelming and make it simpler. Our tagline is “Simply For Your Benefit,” and I want every interaction with our agency to live up to that promise.
At Mere Benefits, we aren’t trying to make people insurance experts. We want to give them enough knowledge, context, and support to make confident decisions—and to know they have someone they can come back to when life or the rules change.
Because ultimately, we don’t just sell insurance. We help people understand it.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m incredibly excited about the future because I believe there has never been a greater need for education, transparency, and advocacy in healthcare and retirement planning.
The systems people are trying to navigate are becoming more complicated, not less. Medicare is changing. Health insurance is changing. Healthcare costs continue to rise. Social Security decisions can affect decades of retirement income. At the same time, consumers are surrounded by more information than ever before—but more information doesn’t necessarily mean better information.
I see a tremendous opportunity for Mere Benefits to help close that gap.
One of my biggest goals is to expand the educational side of what we do so our impact isn’t limited to the number of people I can personally sit across from in a day. Publishing Get It Right: Medicare & Social Security Unlocked was an important step in that direction, but I see it as the beginning rather than the finish line.
I want to continue writing, speaking, teaching workshops and seminars, creating digital resources, developing practical tools, and finding new ways to make complicated information accessible to everyday consumers. I would love for someone to encounter Mere Benefits long before they ever need to purchase an insurance product and already view us as a trusted place to learn.
I’m also looking forward to continuing to grow the agency itself. As we’ve grown, one of my biggest priorities has been figuring out how to serve more people without losing what made the business successful in the first place. I never want growth to mean that clients become numbers or that personalized guidance gets replaced by a transaction.
That means continuing to build the right team, improve our systems and technology, and create an experience where clients have knowledgeable people available to support them—not just when they enroll in coverage, but as their needs and circumstances change.
I also want to continue expanding the partnerships we’ve developed within the community. Insurance is only one piece of someone’s healthcare and financial life. There is tremendous value in connecting consumers with physicians, healthcare organizations, financial professionals, businesses, community organizations, and other trusted resources. I see Mere Benefits increasingly becoming a connector as well as an insurance agency.
Advocacy will continue to be an important part of my future as well. I work with consumers every day, so I see firsthand what happens when healthcare policy meets real life. I see what families can and cannot afford. I see where people get confused. I see the unintended consequences of certain rules and the gaps that people can fall through.
Through my involvement with organizations such as HAFA, NABIP, and Florida Voices for Health, I want to continue bringing those real-world experiences into larger conversations about healthcare access, affordability, Medicare, and insurance policy. I don’t expect to agree with everyone on every solution, but I strongly believe better policy starts with understanding how decisions actually affect the people who have to live with them.
I’m also looking forward to doing more speaking. I genuinely love taking a topic that initially makes someone’s eyes glaze over and finding a way to make it understandable and relevant. Whether I’m speaking to consumers, business owners, other professionals, or industry groups, I want education to become an even larger part of the work I do.
Professionally, I plan to continue pursuing advanced education and leadership opportunities as well. One thing nearly two decades in this industry has taught me is that the moment you believe you know everything is probably the moment you become dangerous. There is always something else to learn, another perspective to consider, or a better way to serve someone.
And while I have ambitious goals for the business, some of my most important goals aren’t business goals at all.
I’m raising two children, and I’m very aware of how quickly those years are passing. I want to continue building a business I’m proud of while also creating a life where there is room for my family, my faith, service, travel, and the experiences that matter outside of work. Entrepreneurship can consume every available hour if you allow it to, and I’m learning that building a successful business and building a meaningful life have to happen together.
Ultimately, my vision for Mere Benefits is bigger than becoming a larger insurance agency.
I want us to become one of the most trusted educational resources for Medicare, health insurance, Social Security, and healthcare decision-making in the communities we serve. I want people to know that when something changes, when they’re overwhelmed, or when they simply don’t know what questions they should be asking, there is somewhere they can turn for honest information and guidance.
The recent recognition we’ve received—including our two 2026 Best of Florida wins and our regional recognition in a third category—has been incredibly encouraging, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve arrived.
It feels like we’re just getting started.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://merebenefits.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere.benefits/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MereBenefits
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/merebenefits/
- Twitter: https://x.com/MereBenefits
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@merebenefits
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mere-jacksonville?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)
- Other: https://nextdoor.com/pages/mere-jacksonville-fl/
