The September Advocate Brief: Resetting the Stage for Real Change

September always feels like a reset. Kids head back to school, routines snap into place, and for those of us looking to impact the lives of patients, the noise of summer gives way to clarity. It’s the perfect time to sharpen focus. In this issue, we dig into the decisions shaping access, the financial pressure points patients can’t escape, the community gaps too many still ignore, and the innovation story that sounds promising, until you look closer.

But clarity means reckoning with the numbers. Medicaid cuts, employer coverage shifts, AI trust gaps, and pharmacy deserts aren’t trends—they’re warning signs. The data doesn’t whisper. It shouts. And if we’re serious about fixing healthcare, we can’t just observe the damage. We have to confront what’s driving it. Let’s get into it.

Policy isn’t neutral. It’s a lever—pulled by the powerful to dictate what care gets delivered, when, and to whom. This month, that lever tilted hard: regulatory rollbacks, price transparency mandates, and billion-dollar Medicaid cuts that’ll leave real families scrambling.

These aren’t distant policy tweaks—they’re shockwaves. And they don’t stop at Congress. They ripple into clinics, insurance claims, and patients’ bank accounts. Next stop? The economic fallout.

Policy creates the conditions, but it’s the economic weight that makes patients crack under the system.

Healthcare isn’t just too expensive—it’s designed that way. From $800 GLP-1 prescriptions to prior auth programs built to stall treatment, the financial scaffolding of our system is crumbling. Employers can’t hold the weight. Patients never could. Follow the money and you’ll find the pain points. This month’s financial data says what patients already know: affordability isn’t real.

It’s not just inflation. It’s institutional greed, outdated contracts, and tech-enabled denial. And if we don’t shift the structure, communities will keep absorbing the cost. When cost drives care, communities suffer. Let’s talk about where access breaks down next.

When the system fails, it hurts the least protected the most. Pharmacy closures. Missed diagnoses. Entire communities left out of the healthcare system. These stories don’t just need awareness—they need action. No system change is meaningful if it overlooks the street level. Communities still face gaps that policy has ignored.

If innovation claims to solve health equity but overlooks these lived realities, it’s not real progress. It’s just performance. Tech aims to fix everything. But innovation only works when it meets people where they are. Let’s discuss what that disconnect looks like when tech takes the stage.

Tech aims to improve healthcare. But for whom? From AI diagnostics to FDA user fee dependencies, we’re witnessing innovation surge while trust remains flat. Patients see it. Advocates experience it. Executives ignore it. Technology continues to accelerate. But if it bypasses the people who need it most, what exactly are we celebrating?

Until tech gets built with, not just for, communities, we’re not innovating. We’re automating dysfunction. September’s coming. The question is whether we build better or just build faster.

We’re heading into the fall with sharper focus, bigger stakes, and one clear truth: advocacy can’t wait. That message is hitting hard.

Our TEDx talk just passed 1,000,000 views because people are done accepting a broken system as the status quo.

If you haven’t watched it yet, now’s the time. See why thousands of patients, advocates, and industry leaders are sharing it, and use it as fuel for the work ahead.

Watch the TEDx Talk: If this talk resonates with your work, forward it to your team or share it on LinkedIn. Let’s make this part of the conversation.