Why we exist

About us

Mission & vision

To educate Americans about how our healthcare system really works, and to turn their experiences into a national movement for reform that puts patients first.

We believe change starts with understanding. So we explain the system in plain language, collect the stories of the people it affects, and give everyday Americans practical tools to make their voices heard.

“An America where getting sick doesn’t mean going broke. Where a doctor’s recommendation isn’t overruled by a billing department. Where we judge our healthcare system not by what it earns, but by how well it keeps people alive and well.”

Our vision

We don’t start with a party or a single prescribed solution. Other wealthy nations, from Germany to Singapore to Canada, cover their people in very different ways. We believe Americans can study what works, choose a path, and move forward together.

What we do

Educate

We translate a deliberately confusing system into plain English, so Americans understand where their money goes and why.

Testify

We collect real experiences from patients, families and clinicians, and organize them into a public record of what Americans are living through.

Mobilize

We give people specific, doable actions, from appealing a denial to calling Congress to organizing locally.

How we work

Nonpartisan

We hold every elected official to the same standard: are patients better off?

Evidence first

We cite our sources. If we’re wrong, we’ll correct it.

Clinicians are allies

We criticize systems and incentives, not the people working inside them.

Your story, your choice

Nothing you share is published without your permission.

Meet our founder

Garrett Soames has spent nearly two decades in healthcare, from emergency and urgent care to the COVID-19 response and healthcare work in Malawi, Africa. He wrote Flatlined: How Profit Broke American Healthcare and founded Patients Before Profit.