I broke my neck and became cattle.

Not metaphorically. Literally. I went from patient to billing code the moment I entered the American healthcare system seeking relief.

Doctor after doctor told me the same thing: opiates. Not because that was the right answer. Because that was the only answer their employers would allow.

Pain specialists couldn't take new patients. Hospital systems saw people like me as liability, not human beings who needed care. The clinicians who wanted to help me couldn't fight for alternatives because prior authorizations weren't paid time. Insurance denials meant unpaid labor.

So my needs disappeared.

I work in pharma and genomics. I know more than most patients about how to press doctors for options. Even with that knowledge, I hit walls everywhere.

If I couldn't get real care, what happens to everyone else?

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I finally found a surgeon who practiced actual medicine. He got me out of the hospital eight hours after a 13-hour spinal surgery.

Eight hours.

Most hospital-employed surgeons would have kept me for two days. More billable time. More revenue. He saw that as risk for hospital-acquired infection and sent me home to recover safely.

He did remote follow-ups. Let me choose my own physical therapy location between NYC where he operated and Charleston where I live. He practiced medicine for the patient, not the billing department.

The only reason he could do this? He stayed independent.

But here's the problem: as of January 2024, 77.6% of physicians are now employed by hospitals, insurance companies, or corporate entities. Independent practitioners are going extinct.

The government set a trap called Meaningful Use.

They dangled money for doctors to adopt electronic health records. Promised it would make care better, records shareable, patients safer.

Twenty years later, records still don't transfer between systems. But the trap worked perfectly.

Doctors who didn't adopt early got stuck with insurmountable costs to transition their practices. They had two choices: go bankrupt or sell to the hospital system.

Most sold.

Then came the hidden weapon: Section 6001 of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. It made it illegal for physicians to open new hospitals or expand existing ones beyond their size at that date.

Read that again.

If doctors were smart enough to keep their practices and wanted to band together to create their own system of care, it became illegal.

That's not healthcare reform. That's market consolidation disguised as patient protection.

Tech companies became billion-dollar giants. Hospital systems bought out local competition. Private equity firms now control 30% of all for-profit hospitals.

Physicians and patients got table scraps.

The chronic pain doctors who wanted to treat me couldn't. Hospital administrators during the opioid crisis banned new patient intake. They saw drug seekers instead of patients seeking appropriate care.

I had a physician in southern New Jersey ready to do a spinal cord stimulator. Hospital policy limited him to 2-3 patients per year for that technology.

Why? Because the hospital would rather have me coming in monthly for prescriptions. Bill for the visit. Bill for the mandatory drug screen. Guaranteed patient for life.

A one-time solution that would free me from the system entirely? That's lost revenue.

ACA promised cheaper care. Patients are watching their premiums skyrocket and realizing they were sold a lie.

The second domino needs to be awareness that your local doctor is legally banned from opening a hospital to serve your community.

This system was built for the big guys to stay in power. Not to do what's right for patients.

Most Americans still think doctors make millions and vacation on yachts. Reality? Most are lucky to pay off school debt in 20 years while reimbursements drop below inflation every year.

At some point, the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

First: repeal the statute limiting physicians from opening hospitals. Let doctors who went into medicine to provide the best treatment actually build systems of care they stand behind.

Second: educate the public on how we got here. Patients don't understand the politics and economics that turned their doctors into employees who risk their jobs and licenses for pushing back.

There are still great doctors out there fighting. They've been muzzled by their health systems and the insurance companies they battle daily.

I fight for them. For the surgeon who gave me my life back.

Find a coalition of like-minded physicians. Start applying pressure. Educate your patient base and local community.

Get active.

Nothing changes if you stay silent.