Matthew Zachary
@matthewzachary.bsky.social
Author of We the Patients (Wiley 2026). Patient Rights Activist. Keynote Speaker. 30-year brain cancer survivor. Host of healthcare’s #1 independent podcast. Healthcare’s Unfiltered Voice of Reason.
The Most Profitable Way to Sell Healthcare Is to Make Sure Nobody Gets Any
The Most Profitable Way to Sell Healthcare Is to Make Sure Nobody Gets Any
America’s biggest health insurers are back on top. The people paying for healthcare might want to ask how.
matthewzachary.substack.com
31 Years Later, the MRI “Scanziety” Still Scares the Shit Out of Me
31 Years Later, the MRI “Scanziety” Still Scares the Shit Out of Me
The scan was clean. My head, apparently, is empty. Everything else is complicated.
matthewzachary.substack.com
Healthcare Is on the Ballot. Patients Still Aren’t.
Healthcare Is on the Ballot. Patients Still Aren’t.
Why voting on healthcare issues is not the same as voting as patients, and why that distinction matters for political power.
matthewzachary.substack.com
Come With Me If You Want To Live: Do Cancer Patients Trust Your Fancy New Robot?
Come With Me If You Want To Live: Do Cancer Patients Trust Your Fancy New Robot?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, everyone and their mother is building AI for cancer patients.
matthewzachary.substack.com
Get the Fuck Out and Vote the Fuck Up.
Get the Fuck Out and Vote the Fuck Up.
We’ve all heard a million times how important our vote is. But these midterms are also an opportunity to express how sick and tired we are of being sick and tired of the greedy, malfeasant, corrupt, and abusive succubus known as American Healthcare.
matthewzachary.substack.com
The Patient Voice Has Come a Long Way. So Why Are We Still in the Basement?
The Patient Voice Has Come a Long Way. So Why Are We Still in the Basement?
Happy Halloween. Apparently, the scariest thing in healthcare is still the prospect of patients having actual power.
matthewzachary.substack.com
A Friendly Public Service Announcement About AI and Professional Courtesy 🌈⭐
A Friendly Public Service Announcement About AI and Professional Courtesy 🌈⭐
I use AI constantly.
matthewzachary.substack.com
Dear ASCO, With Love, From Your Favorite Pain in the Ass Cancer Advocate
Dear ASCO, With Love, From Your Favorite Pain in the Ass Cancer Advocate
20 years of ASCO, better furniture, and what organized oncology taught me about political power. It’s not for patients. Yet.
matthewzachary.substack.com
I Went on a Podcast and Accidentally Conducted a Focus Group
I Went on a Podcast and Accidentally Conducted a Focus Group
What The Resilience Playbook revealed about cancer, exhaustion, and my increasingly unreasonable theory of American healthcare.
matthewzachary.substack.com
I read an early copy of White Coats and Black Swans by Stanford-trained physician @ScottSandage. Think Memento meets The Pitt, with doctors trusting charts over patients. One bad diagnosis can upend your entire reality. Today only: Kindle ebook $0.99. www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJ8SPQ8V
White Coats and Black Swans: A Doctor’s Descent Into Misdiagnosis and Madness
White Coats and Black Swans: A Doctor’s Descent Into Misdiagnosis and Madness - Kindle edition by Standage, Scott. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading White Coats and Black Swans: A Doctor’s Descent Into Misdiagnosis and Madness.
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CUBANWATCH: The Curious Case of Mark Cuban and the American Patient
CUBANWATCH: The Curious Case of Mark Cuban and the American Patient
One billionaire, approximately 47 healthcare problems, and a patient advocate watching from the other side of the fence.
matthewzachary.substack.com
Your Medical Bill Is Apparently Just a Suggestion
Your Medical Bill Is Apparently Just a Suggestion
And nobody bothered to tell you.
matthewzachary.substack.com
The Y-Chromosome Patient at the Women’s Health IT Conference
The Y-Chromosome Patient at the Women’s Health IT Conference
There appears to be a theme to my year.
thematthewzachary.substack.com
Charles Dickens Would Have Loved American Healthcare
Charles Dickens Would Have Loved American Healthcare
We cured Victorian medicine and kept everything else.
thematthewzachary.substack.com
A Patient Community Is Not A Patient Constituency. I’m Confused Too.
A Patient Community Is Not A Patient Constituency. I’m Confused Too.
It only took me 30 years to figure this out. So I made a cheap-ass little video to explain it.
thematthewzachary.substack.com
Doctors and Patients Have Identified the Problem: American Healthcare
Doctors and Patients Have Identified the Problem: American Healthcare
I recently had the pleasure of being invited onto Kim Downey’s Stand Up (for) Doctors!
thematthewzachary.substack.com
America’s Newest Healthcare Industry Is Protecting Us From American Healthcare
America’s Newest Healthcare Industry Is Protecting Us From American Healthcare
On August 20, benefits consulting firm Aon reported that employer healthcare costs are expected to rise 9.5 percent in 2027, pushing average spending above $19,000 per employee.
thematthewzachary.substack.com