Out of Patients
with Matthew Zachary
Welcome to 2026: The Year of the Patient where the sick shall inherit the ballot.
Prior Authorization Works Exactly as Designed and That Is the Problem
Prior authorization persists because it works for the system that created it. This essay explains how cost control, risk management, and delay shape patient outcomes, why reform keeps falling short, and what must change to align financial incentives with timely care.
What Happens If More Patients Appeal Insurance Denials?
Only 0.2% of patients appeal insurance denials, yet 80% succeed. This article examines how even small increases in appeals could shift insurer behavior, raise costs, influence Wall Street expectations, and reshape the economics of American healthcare.
Why American Healthcare Delays Care and Denies Treatment
American healthcare delays care and denies treatment by design. Insurance rules, prior authorization, and administrative barriers control access to care, often slowing or blocking what doctors recommend and patients need.
American Harmcare: The System Working Exactly As Designed
A 30 year brain cancer survivor breaks down how insurance delays, denials, and red tape harm patients by design. This is not dysfunction. This is the business model.
This Week In Cuban: Our Patron Saint Is Still Doing The Lord’s Work.
Mark Cuban is stepping in where insurers fail, funding care and challenging the system. But real change will not come from policy alone. A unified patient voting bloc could reshape healthcare power in America.
I went on Humanity Rx to say the quiet part clearly and attach names, timelines, and consequences to it.
Matthew Zachary joins Humanity Rx to break down how modern cancer care improves survival while leaving patients exposed to medical debt, prior authorization delays, and financial risk, and why policy change depends on organized patient power.
Out of Patients EP437: First in (Wo)Man: Jessica J. Federer
Women were excluded from U.S. clinical trials until 1993. That decision shaped drug safety, outcomes, and cost for decades. This essay breaks down the incentives, capital flows, and regulatory gaps that sustained it and what must change next.
Express Scripts Hit With RICO Lawsuit: The Swiss Shell Game That May Have Robbed Patients for Years
Express Scripts allegedly created a Swiss shell company to hide rebate money from employers and patients. Cigna's own CMO admitted they could "double, triple dip on fees." Now a RICO lawsuit threatens existential damages. Welcome to 2026: The Year of the Patient.
Out of Patients EP436: “But You Look Great” with Monique Gore Massy
Monique Gore Massy spent 2.5 years misdiagnosed while lupus shut her body down. This episode exposes bias, diagnostic delay, and the cost of dismissing patients who “look fine,” and what happens when lived experience demands real authority.
When an Insurer Calls Your Treatment Investigational and the Alternative Is Brain Surgery
When an insurer labels trigeminal nerve blocks investigational, patients may face brain surgery instead. This essay examines how coverage policy, coding decisions, and actuarial incentives shape care for trigeminal neuralgia and what must change to align patient protection with economic logic.
Healthcare Is a Private Tax Triggered by Diagnosis
Gallup reports 82 million Americans cut back on daily life to afford healthcare. Coverage shifts financial risk to families through deductibles and prior authorization. Diagnosis now operates like a private tax on survival and forces tradeoffs across work, housing, and retirement.
How I Hacked Google Alerts to Track Healthcare's Worst Behavior
I do not have insider sources. I have Google Alerts. Set up 19 targeted alerts and watch insurance denials, cancer treatment delays, lawsuits, and settlements roll in daily. The stories are public. The patterns are obvious. Here is how to see what I see.
Tamika Felder Built Cervivor. Then She Built a Family.
At 25, cervical cancer forced Tamika Felder into a hysterectomy without fertility preservation. Two decades later, another survivor donated embryos that helped her become a mother. A story about systemic gaps, advocacy, and the family she built anyway.
Patients Should *NOT* Have To Write Policy Briefs
Sally Neely Nix manages chronic pain with nerve block injections. No opioids. Her insurer calls them experimental. So she built a policy brief and sent it to the CEO. While in extreme pain. Patients shouldn't have to become researchers to access care that works.
Yes, I Partnered With a Skincare Company. Here Is Why.
After 30 years of cancer survivorship, Matthew Zachary explains why he partnered with Codex Labs. This post explores radiation side effects, steroid driven treatment cycles, skincare regulation gaps, and why barrier focused science matters for compromised skin.
Out of Patients EP0434: Neuro Spicy on the Front Line: Dr Pamela Buchanan
ER physician Dr Pamela Buchanan spent 20 years inside American medicine and 2020 nearly broke her. She worked 80 to 100 hour COVID weeks, isolated from family, and faced emotional flatline head on. A raw look at burnout, suicide risk, and why doctors are walking away.
[EVENT] Matthew Zachary Returns to the Stage | 30 Year Cancerversary LIVE in NYC 4/28
After 22 years away from solo performance, Matthew Zachary returns to the stage April 28 at Merkin Concert Hall in NYC. A live piano concert marking 30 years since brain cancer, featuring stories from the cancer community and the launch of We the Patients.
Eczema, Exit, Repeat: The Business Model of Chronic Disease
Millions cycle through eczema treatments that calm symptoms but never fix the cause. This essay explains how payment models, regulation, and product marketing keep patients trapped in repeat care instead of long term prevention.
Out of Patients EP433: STEMM Cells and Broken Bones
Dr Eugene Manley survived 20 to 30 ER visits a year in 1980s Detroit, earned 3 science degrees, and later caught falsified records after surgery at Mount Sinai Queens. In EP433 he breaks down medical racism, STEMM access, and how patients fight back with facts.