Explanation of Benefits Newsletter — Matthew Zachary
Sign up for Matthew Zachary’s Explanation of Benefits newsletter on healthcare accountability, patient advocacy, policy insights, and media updates
I spent 30 years inside American healthcare.
As a patient.
As a founder.
As a watchdog.
I finally launched the newsletter I wish existed when I was 21 and fighting for my life.
No press releases.
No spin.
Just receipts.
Sign Up at matthewzachary.com/signup
17.02.2026 23:16
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TRANSFORMERS | 40 years later…it still hits like a truck. Welcome to the Apology Tour. | Instagram
51K likes, 1,301 comments - transformersofficial on February 13, 2026: "40 years later…it still hits like a truck. Welcome to the Apology Tour.".
"The #Transformers Apology Tour"
40 Years Later and Hasbro is FINALLY trying to atone for their sin of killing Optimus Prime in the Transformers movie scarring the lives and memories of millions of GenX 80s kids, myself included.
#YouveGotTheTouch #OneShallStand
www.instagram.com/reels/DUs1_d...
16.02.2026 15:23
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@wethepatients.bsky.social
14.02.2026 05:00
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Join me at thePoint of Care Marketing Association 2026 NOW Summit Pathways to Care in NYC this March!
pocmarketing.swoogo.com/poc-now-summ...
05.02.2026 17:33
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No Care for You! open.substack.com/pub/thematth...
04.02.2026 14:07
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Opinion | Five Americans on Going Broke Paying for Their Health Care
"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...
22.01.2026 16:41
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🙏🏻🙏🏻
14.01.2026 21:44
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Happy New Year!
01.01.2026 04:02
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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
28.11.2025 01:08
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@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
24.10.2025 13:59
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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 …
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
08.10.2025 12:10
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"Genes of Wrath" podcast episode on Out of Patients with Matthew Zachary, an author interview about "When the Baby Is Not OK: Hopes & Genes" by Jennifer J. Brown and health advocacy in rare disease.
🧬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
10.10.2025 13:59
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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…
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-...
02.10.2025 12:43
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Arms and Legs and Podcasts, oh my!
Dan Weissmann is the Ferris Bueller of healthcare journalism.
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
22.09.2025 14:42
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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...
19.09.2025 18:21
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Image of a pill bottle labeled, "The Prescription Drug Playbook." Text against a green background: "Paying for prescription drugs is the worst game none of us ever asked to play. Here's the best set of cheat codes we've found." Lower-left corner: Small logo for "An Arm and a Leg" - a podcast about the cost of health care.
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/
02.07.2025 22:12
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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.
07.09.2025 18:07
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You know what it is. #StupidCancer #TGIF
05.09.2025 23:53
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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
04.09.2025 18:02
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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.
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
02.09.2025 22:11
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CancerCon 2025: Loud, Proud, and Not Going Away
You Know What It Is
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
02.09.2025 22:03
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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
01.09.2025 14:13
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