Matthew Zachary
@matthewzachary.bsky.social
American Healthcare’s Unfiltered Voice of Reason • Co-Founder, We the Patients • Author, We the Patients (Wiley, May 2026) • #1 independent healthcare podcast • 30-year brain cancer survivor | Patients first, always
Reposted by Matthew Zachary
"We had a baby and we bought a house in 2024. We’ve always been responsible with money, and these were life decisions we made based on a sense of our income and bills. Spending nearly $1,000 more a month, that’s not something we factored in."
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/o...
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/o...
Opinion | Five Americans on Going Broke Paying for Their Health Care
www.nytimes.com
January 22, 2026 at 4:41 PM
"We had a baby and we bought a house in 2024. We’ve always been responsible with money, and these were life decisions we made based on a sense of our income and bills. Spending nearly $1,000 more a month, that’s not something we factored in."
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/o...
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/o...
Insurers call prior authorization reform. Patients live the damage. I documented how denials and delays work exactly as designed, from IVIG to cancer imaging.
Read the full piece here:
www.matthewzachary.com/blog/prior-a...
Read the full piece here:
www.matthewzachary.com/blog/prior-a...
Prior Authorization Works Exactly as Designed | Matthew Zachary — Matthew Zachary
Insurance companies call it reform. Patients live the harm. A firsthand examination of how prior authorization delays care, denies treatment, and shifts cost and suffering onto the sickest people.
www.matthewzachary.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Insurers call prior authorization reform. Patients live the damage. I documented how denials and delays work exactly as designed, from IVIG to cancer imaging.
Read the full piece here:
www.matthewzachary.com/blog/prior-a...
Read the full piece here:
www.matthewzachary.com/blog/prior-a...
Reposted by Matthew Zachary
From Brain Cancer Diagnosis to Building a Patient Rights Movement - Matthew Zachary
@matthewzachary.bsky.social
oncodaily.com/voices/matth...
#OncoDaily #Oncology #Cancer #Health #Medicine #MedEd #MedOnc #MedNews #BrainCancer
@matthewzachary.bsky.social
oncodaily.com/voices/matth...
#OncoDaily #Oncology #Cancer #Health #Medicine #MedEd #MedOnc #MedNews #BrainCancer
Matthew Zachary: From Brain Cancer Diagnosis to Building a Patient Rights Movement - OncoDaily
Matthew Zachary: From Brain Cancer Diagnosis to Building a Patient Rights Movement / brain cancer, cancer, Headlines, Matthew Zachary, OncoDaily, Oncology
oncodaily.com
January 14, 2026 at 8:58 PM
From Brain Cancer Diagnosis to Building a Patient Rights Movement - Matthew Zachary
@matthewzachary.bsky.social
oncodaily.com/voices/matth...
#OncoDaily #Oncology #Cancer #Health #Medicine #MedEd #MedOnc #MedNews #BrainCancer
@matthewzachary.bsky.social
oncodaily.com/voices/matth...
#OncoDaily #Oncology #Cancer #Health #Medicine #MedEd #MedOnc #MedNews #BrainCancer
BOOK LAUNCH!
I was 21 when I found out I had brain cancer because a radiologist never returned a call.
Thirty years later, I wrote this about why every patient needs a second opinion.
www.matthewzachary.com/blog/its-tim...
I was 21 when I found out I had brain cancer because a radiologist never returned a call.
Thirty years later, I wrote this about why every patient needs a second opinion.
www.matthewzachary.com/blog/its-tim...
It's Time For A Second Opinion - We The Patients Book — Matthew Zachary
Brain cancer survivor Matthew Zachary announces "We the Patients," a manual for rigging America's broken healthcare system in your favor. Pre-order now.
www.matthewzachary.com
January 13, 2026 at 8:54 PM
BOOK LAUNCH!
I was 21 when I found out I had brain cancer because a radiologist never returned a call.
Thirty years later, I wrote this about why every patient needs a second opinion.
www.matthewzachary.com/blog/its-tim...
I was 21 when I found out I had brain cancer because a radiologist never returned a call.
Thirty years later, I wrote this about why every patient needs a second opinion.
www.matthewzachary.com/blog/its-tim...
[WHAT IF?] @mcuban.bsky.social Ran for President on Healthcare? open.substack.com/pub/thematth...
[WHAT IF?] Mark Cuban Ran for President on Healthcare?
How a Healthcare First Campaign Could Reshape Elections
open.substack.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:49 PM
[WHAT IF?] @mcuban.bsky.social Ran for President on Healthcare? open.substack.com/pub/thematth...
Happy New Year!
January 1, 2026 at 4:02 AM
Happy New Year!
Apparently, I’m the #3 cancer influencer on
@linkedin.com (My tumor would be proud). Survived brain cancer at 21 and turned nonviolent revenge into a career. Patients are done waiting for permission. Thanks
Favikon Awards!. Updating my bio to Global Top 3 Troublemaker. #HappyThanksgiving
@linkedin.com (My tumor would be proud). Survived brain cancer at 21 and turned nonviolent revenge into a career. Patients are done waiting for permission. Thanks
Favikon Awards!. Updating my bio to Global Top 3 Troublemaker. #HappyThanksgiving
November 28, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Apparently, I’m the #3 cancer influencer on
@linkedin.com (My tumor would be proud). Survived brain cancer at 21 and turned nonviolent revenge into a career. Patients are done waiting for permission. Thanks
Favikon Awards!. Updating my bio to Global Top 3 Troublemaker. #HappyThanksgiving
@linkedin.com (My tumor would be proud). Survived brain cancer at 21 and turned nonviolent revenge into a career. Patients are done waiting for permission. Thanks
Favikon Awards!. Updating my bio to Global Top 3 Troublemaker. #HappyThanksgiving
@mcuban.bsky.social accidentally became the Robin Hood of healthcare. He didn’t ask for it. We noticed anyway.
Read The Patron Saint of Patients. emz.ee/3J0PtV3
Read The Patron Saint of Patients. emz.ee/3J0PtV3
October 24, 2025 at 1:59 PM
@mcuban.bsky.social accidentally became the Robin Hood of healthcare. He didn’t ask for it. We noticed anyway.
Read The Patron Saint of Patients. emz.ee/3J0PtV3
Read The Patron Saint of Patients. emz.ee/3J0PtV3
Reposted by Matthew Zachary
Grateful to @matthewzachary.bsky.social for his deeply probing questions + shared dark humor during our live, unscripted conversation in his famous "Out of Patients" health podcast ~ at: www.outofpatients.com/the-genes-of... #Scicomm #Genetics #Memoir #Raredisease #Newbornscreening #healthcarereform
The Genes of Wrath: Jennifer J. Brown
Jennifer J. Brown is a scientist, a writer, and a mother who never got the luxury of separating those roles. Her memoir When the Baby Is Not OK: Hopes & Genes is a …
www.outofpatients.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Grateful to @matthewzachary.bsky.social for his deeply probing questions + shared dark humor during our live, unscripted conversation in his famous "Out of Patients" health podcast ~ at: www.outofpatients.com/the-genes-of... #Scicomm #Genetics #Memoir #Raredisease #Newbornscreening #healthcarereform
Reposted by Matthew Zachary
🧬The Genes of Wrath ~ 🎧podcast episode's up! On "Out of Patients" ~ about disconnects between medical knowledge + human connection, rare disease parenting, trauma + survival while flipping the script. www.outofpatients.com/the-genes-of... #raredisease #memoir #PKU #books @matthewzachary.bsky.social
October 10, 2025 at 1:59 PM
🧬The Genes of Wrath ~ 🎧podcast episode's up! On "Out of Patients" ~ about disconnects between medical knowledge + human connection, rare disease parenting, trauma + survival while flipping the script. www.outofpatients.com/the-genes-of... #raredisease #memoir #PKU #books @matthewzachary.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Zachary
Very excited to see the first episode of a new 🎙️ #podcast project on @matthewzachary.bsky.social 's Out of Patients Network - called Standard Deviation out today. We tell the stories of scientists facing adversity. Thanks MZ for the opportunity! Take a listen www.outofpatients.com/introducing-...
Introducing Standard Deviation EP1: The Impossible Climb
This episode of Standard Deviation features Oliver Bogler in conversation with Dr Na Zhao, a cancer biologist caught in the crossfire of science, politics, and surv…
www.outofpatients.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Very excited to see the first episode of a new 🎙️ #podcast project on @matthewzachary.bsky.social 's Out of Patients Network - called Standard Deviation out today. We tell the stories of scientists facing adversity. Thanks MZ for the opportunity! Take a listen www.outofpatients.com/introducing-...
US Healthcare is a horror show. Premiums up 18 percent. Subsidies vanish. Families forced to earn less just to stay insured. @danweissmann.bsky.social Arm and a Leg lays it out like no one else.
thematthewzachary.substack.com/p/arms-and-l...
#HealthCare #ACA #PatientRights #ArmAndALeg
thematthewzachary.substack.com/p/arms-and-l...
#HealthCare #ACA #PatientRights #ArmAndALeg
Arms and Legs and Podcasts, oh my!
Dan Weissmann is the Ferris Bueller of healthcare journalism.
thematthewzachary.substack.com
September 22, 2025 at 2:42 PM
US Healthcare is a horror show. Premiums up 18 percent. Subsidies vanish. Families forced to earn less just to stay insured. @danweissmann.bsky.social Arm and a Leg lays it out like no one else.
thematthewzachary.substack.com/p/arms-and-l...
#HealthCare #ACA #PatientRights #ArmAndALeg
thematthewzachary.substack.com/p/arms-and-l...
#HealthCare #ACA #PatientRights #ArmAndALeg
Reposted by Matthew Zachary
This scary calculator is SUPER relevant to anybody looking at Obamacare for 2026
... and plays a big role in @armandalegshow.bsky.social's brand-new episode.
It's personal — and full of info that you, or someone you care about, probably need too.
armandalegshow.com/episode/insu...
... and plays a big role in @armandalegshow.bsky.social's brand-new episode.
It's personal — and full of info that you, or someone you care about, probably need too.
armandalegshow.com/episode/insu...
September 19, 2025 at 6:21 PM
This scary calculator is SUPER relevant to anybody looking at Obamacare for 2026
... and plays a big role in @armandalegshow.bsky.social's brand-new episode.
It's personal — and full of info that you, or someone you care about, probably need too.
armandalegshow.com/episode/insu...
... and plays a big role in @armandalegshow.bsky.social's brand-new episode.
It's personal — and full of info that you, or someone you care about, probably need too.
armandalegshow.com/episode/insu...
Reposted by Matthew Zachary
For the last six months, my colleagues and I have been compiling our best "playbook" for dealing with the awful price of meds — with suggestions from dozens of listeners and readers.
Now, we've published the results — five newsletter posts, two podcast episodes, and more:
armandalegshow.com/drugs/
Now, we've published the results — five newsletter posts, two podcast episodes, and more:
armandalegshow.com/drugs/
July 2, 2025 at 10:12 PM
For the last six months, my colleagues and I have been compiling our best "playbook" for dealing with the awful price of meds — with suggestions from dozens of listeners and readers.
Now, we've published the results — five newsletter posts, two podcast episodes, and more:
armandalegshow.com/drugs/
Now, we've published the results — five newsletter posts, two podcast episodes, and more:
armandalegshow.com/drugs/
Reposted by Matthew Zachary
Some real holy-crap numbers here.
We spend 80% more than the avg for Western Europe/Japan/Australia
… and see our doctors HALF as often.
We spend 80% more than the avg for Western Europe/Japan/Australia
… and see our doctors HALF as often.
We in the U.S. use less care than in other countries, but pay more.
www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collec...
www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collec...
How healthcare prices and utilization in the United States compare to peer nations? - Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker
This chart collection compares indicators of health care utilization and prices in the United States and 11 similarly wealthy countries to investigate whether higher prices or higher utilization of he...
www.healthsystemtracker.org
September 7, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Some real holy-crap numbers here.
We spend 80% more than the avg for Western Europe/Japan/Australia
… and see our doctors HALF as often.
We spend 80% more than the avg for Western Europe/Japan/Australia
… and see our doctors HALF as often.
You know what it is. #StupidCancer #TGIF
September 5, 2025 at 11:53 PM
You know what it is. #StupidCancer #TGIF
I’m emceeing the ABTA BT5K in NYC this fall. From 21-year-old brain cancer patient to 30-year survivor, this one hits home. Read the story on Substack:
emz.ee/3VxleaF
#BrainTumorAwareness #ABTA #BT5K #CancerSurvivor
emz.ee/3VxleaF
#BrainTumorAwareness #ABTA #BT5K #CancerSurvivor
September 4, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I’m emceeing the ABTA BT5K in NYC this fall. From 21-year-old brain cancer patient to 30-year survivor, this one hits home. Read the story on Substack:
emz.ee/3VxleaF
#BrainTumorAwareness #ABTA #BT5K #CancerSurvivor
emz.ee/3VxleaF
#BrainTumorAwareness #ABTA #BT5K #CancerSurvivor
RFK Jr. is gutting the CDC like a frat house prank gone national. Public health is not supposed to be a circus. Patients will pay with their lives while politics plays pretend.
Read my full take: emz.ee/4p3niov
#PublicHealth
Read my full take: emz.ee/4p3niov
#PublicHealth
CDC 911
Nine former CDC directors from both parties took the unusual step of writing a joint essay in the New York Times warning that Robert F.
emz.ee
September 2, 2025 at 10:11 PM
RFK Jr. is gutting the CDC like a frat house prank gone national. Public health is not supposed to be a circus. Patients will pay with their lives while politics plays pretend.
Read my full take: emz.ee/4p3niov
#PublicHealth
Read my full take: emz.ee/4p3niov
#PublicHealth
17 years ago at @StupidCancer I built the first OMG! Cancer Summit. Today, CancerCon 2025 in DC showed me what it has become: a home for survivors, caregivers, and advocates who refuse to be ignored. Loud. Proud. Not going away. Read my recap: emz.ee/41uooj2 #CancerCon
CancerCon 2025: Loud, Proud, and Not Going Away
You Know What It Is
emz.ee
September 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM
17 years ago at @StupidCancer I built the first OMG! Cancer Summit. Today, CancerCon 2025 in DC showed me what it has become: a home for survivors, caregivers, and advocates who refuse to be ignored. Loud. Proud. Not going away. Read my recap: emz.ee/41uooj2 #CancerCon
Labor Day honors all work. Nurses on double shifts. Caregivers with two jobs. Advocates pounding on locked doors. Patients like me, fighting disease while fighting the system. America celebrates labor. America must also protect it. #LaborDay emz.ee/3Vu6NUI
September 1, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Labor Day honors all work. Nurses on double shifts. Caregivers with two jobs. Advocates pounding on locked doors. Patients like me, fighting disease while fighting the system. America celebrates labor. America must also protect it. #LaborDay emz.ee/3Vu6NUI
The government just shrugged off pediatric brain cancer. Thirty years a survivor, I watch this move reopen every scar. Enough is enough. Read my full takedown, @danweissmann.bsky.social ssmann—let’s light a match under real change. (Maybe a pod guest swap soon?)
emz.ee/41YbKsE
emz.ee/41YbKsE
August 30, 2025 at 11:23 PM
The government just shrugged off pediatric brain cancer. Thirty years a survivor, I watch this move reopen every scar. Enough is enough. Read my full takedown, @danweissmann.bsky.social ssmann—let’s light a match under real change. (Maybe a pod guest swap soon?)
emz.ee/41YbKsE
emz.ee/41YbKsE
🚨SEASON 8 FINALE 🚨15-year-old Lexi Silver lost both parents before she turned 11. She writes about grief with zero filter and calls out every lie adults tell kids like her. We talked about loss, trolls, poetry, anger, and what real resilience looks like in 2025. emz.ee/4oc5oPK
July 29, 2025 at 3:02 PM
🚨SEASON 8 FINALE 🚨15-year-old Lexi Silver lost both parents before she turned 11. She writes about grief with zero filter and calls out every lie adults tell kids like her. We talked about loss, trolls, poetry, anger, and what real resilience looks like in 2025. emz.ee/4oc5oPK