Out of Patients
with Matthew Zachary
Welcome to 2026: The Year of the Patient where the sick shall inherit the ballot.
Dear ASCO, With Love, From Your Favorite Pain in the Ass Cancer Advocate
After 20 years at ASCO, I’ve watched patient advocates graduate from picnic tables to a beautiful lounge. But has our influence grown with the furniture? A love letter to organized oncology, political power, and why patients need more than a seat at someone else’s table.
Everyone Has a Solution for Patients. Except Patients.
Everyone has a solution for patients. But who gives patients power? After 30 years in healthcare advocacy, I'm asking whether Americans share a political identity as patients, and whether that identity could become a constituency capable of changing the system itself.
North Carolina Created a Healthcare Affordability Commission. Guess Who’s Not in the Room?
North Carolina created a healthcare affordability commission with hospitals, insurers, employers, and policy experts at the table, but no patients. If we are serious about fixing healthcare, the people who navigate it, pay for it, and depend on it must have actual power in the room.
Out of Patients?
Join the recurring Out of Patients dispatch from Matthew Zachary covering the latest American healthcare shenanigans. Essays, podcast episodes, media appearances, book updates, and live events delivered with a sardonic Gen X perspective from a patient who simply refuses to shut up.
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