Meet Ryan Michalek
I'm Ryan Michalek, founder of Michalek Health Solutions — an independent health and life insurance brokerage based in Tampa, Florida and licensed across 31 states. A Chicago native who came up bagging groceries and working jobs that never included a benefits packet, I built this practice helping the self-employed, families, and small business owners find under-65 coverage that actually fits — with no fee, and a phone I still answer year-round. Today I serve hundreds of clients, most of whom found me through a referral from someone I'd already helped.
Where I come from
I didn't come up in insurance boardrooms. I came up bagging groceries and working the kind of jobs that never included a benefits packet — the same spot a lot of my clients are in today. That's not a talking point; it's why I do this the way I do. After getting licensed in 2024 and moving from Chicago to Tampa Bay, I built my practice one honest conversation at a time, and it grew mostly by word of mouth — clients sending me their friends, their family, the person at the next booth over.
Why being independent matters
Because I'm independent, I compare options across many carriers instead of pushing one company's product, and there's never a fee — the carriers pay me, not you. That independence is the whole point. My job is to find coverage that fits how you earn and how you use care, not to move a particular plan. When two people walk in with the same budget and different lives, they usually shouldn't walk out with the same policy, and being independent is what lets me say so honestly.
I pick up the phone
What sets me apart is simple: I pick up the phone long after enrollment, year-round, when a lot of agents go quiet. Coverage questions don't keep business hours, and neither does life — a new baby, a move, a job change, a letter from a carrier you can't make sense of. When something changes, you get to call the person who set it up, not a call center and a hold queue. My belief is that people buying their own coverage deserve an advocate who actually answers.
You'll always start with me
However you find me, the first conversation is with me. I listen to what's actually going on, and most of the time what you need is exactly what I do — private coverage for people who buy their own.
Sometimes your situation calls for something else. When it does, you don't get sent anywhere. You get somebody added.
I work alongside four men, each an expert in a specific corner of this business, and I trust every one of them with my clients and with my own family. Between us, there isn't a situation we can't put you in the right place for.
And it runs both ways. When one of them has somebody who needs private coverage — my corner — I'm the call they make. The trust here doesn't point one direction.
Reid has a real gift for helping the people the market makes it hard on — a rough health history, a past decline. He knows the private market deeply, he genuinely cares about getting folks covered, and he doesn't give up on a tough case; I've watched him find a path for people who'd already been told no. If getting approved is the part that worries you, he's exactly who you want in your corner.
Bjorn is a genuine pro at group and small-business coverage — it's all he does, and it shows. He reads what a company actually needs faster than anyone I know, and he's taken real care of clients of mine who outgrew an individual plan. Sharp, straight with people, and someone I trust without a second thought.
Will is who I want walking anyone onto Medicare. He's guided more of my clients through it than I can count — patiently, every time — and every one of them came away knowing exactly what they chose. That kind of clarity is rare with Medicare, and it's simply how Will works.
Vincent knows the marketplace inside and out and genuinely loves helping people there — it's his world, every single day. When someone's situation points to ACA coverage, he's the one I want on it, because he'll treat them right and make the whole thing feel simple. For a lot of families the marketplace is the right fit, and few people make it as easy as he does.
Here's exactly how it works.
First, you and I talk. One call, no forms, no queue. I ask about your situation and figure out where you actually belong.
Most of the time, that's with me, and we get to work.
If it's one of them, I'll tell you why — plainly, so it makes sense to you — and I connect the two of you myself. You never chase anybody down.
They'll already know your situation before that call happens, because I've told them. You don't start over and you don't explain yourself twice.
And you keep me either way. My number still works. Questions, second opinions, anything at all — you can always come back to me.
A few honest questions people ask
Because handling something that's really someone else's specialty, just to keep it in my hands, would be about my ego — not your coverage. I do private coverage for people who buy their own, and I'm good at it. When your situation lives in a different corner of this business, putting you with the person who works there every day is me handling it. Doing right by you beats doing it all myself.
Because I've watched them work — for years, and with my own clients. I don't hand you off to a name on a list. Every one of these men earned my trust the slow way, and I wouldn't put my own family with them if they hadn't.
Then we talk it through honestly. But I won't keep you in something that doesn't fit just to keep you as mine — that isn't taking care of you, and it isn't how I work. If one of them is genuinely the better hands for your situation, I'll tell you straight.
Nobody pays anybody here. We send people to each other because it's the right call, and because none of us wants a client sitting in a plan that doesn't fit. That's the whole arrangement.
Reid Demyan, Bjorn Dyberg, Will Rollinson, and Vincent Saunders II are independent licensed agents at their own agencies, not employees of Michalek Health Solutions.
Who I help
I work with people who buy their own coverage: the self-employed and 1099 contractors, families and individuals, and small business owners — generally under 65. If you're bridging the gap to Medicare in an early retirement, that's squarely in what I do too. Wherever you land, the goal is the same — honest guidance, plain English, and a plan that fits how you actually live. I'm licensed in 31 states, so the same help travels with you if you move or expand where you do business.
Credentials, and how to verify them
I'd rather you check than take my word for it. Here's who I am on paper, with links to verify at the bottom of this page:
- Licensed Health & Life Insurance Agent · NPN 21043091.
- Licensed in 31 states, so coverage help travels with you.
- Member of the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals (NABIP).
- Principal of a BBB-accredited agency (A rating) and a Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce member.
Guides I've written
I write the guides on this site myself, in the same plain English I'd use on a call — no jargon, no carrier hype, no pressure. Here are a few worth starting with:
- Self-employed & 1099 health insurance → — the core how-to for buying your own coverage.
- Private vs. ACA for the self-employed → — an honest comparison of who each fits.
- Health insurance for LLC & S-corp owners → — how business structure changes the tax treatment.
- COBRA alternatives in Florida → — your options when employer coverage ends.
- Early retiree health insurance → — bridging the gap to Medicare.
- Coverage cost estimator → — map your paths before we ever talk.
Let's talk
If any of this sounds like the kind of help you've been looking for, book a quick conversation or just call me. No pressure, no cost to talk — and you'll be talking to me, not a script.
Let's find coverage that fits your life.
Fifteen minutes to talk through your work, your family, and how you use care — then a clear, honest set of options.