Out of Patients
with Matthew Zachary
Welcome to 2026: The Year of the Patient where the sick shall inherit the ballot.
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.
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.
The Health Insurance Industry is the new Joe Isuzu #TrustMe
Blue Cross Blue Shield says insurers protect patients from high drug prices. The real world shows delays, denials, and blame shifting while patients wait, appeal, and deteriorate. A closer look at how insurers deflect responsibility in the drug pricing debate.
Breaking Up Big Medicine
The new bipartisan proposal to separate insurers, PBMs, and providers targets the financial structure behind rising costs and denials. This piece explains how ownership concentration reshaped care, why regulation failed, and what structural separation could change for patients.