By the time I turned 40, I had lost ten close friends—each a painful reminder of how fragile life can be. One loss, in particular, changed everything. A friend, a brilliant tech executive in Silicon Valley and a devoted mother, died from cancer following a cascade of medical failures. 

Her death hit me hard—not only as a friend, but as a professional. I had started my career helping hospitals optimize revenue cycles, not realizing that I was participating in a system built on billing rather than healing. The deeper I looked, the clearer it became: our healthcare system is structurally flawed. 

At the time, I was leading one of the most financially successful healthcare technology platforms. We had hoped to bring patient and clinician-friendly tools to the industry. But hospitals were buying software designed to optimize reimbursement, not improve outcomes. So, I walked away from that world, determined to try and build something better.

I soon discovered that the best way to reduce healthcare costs isn’t by cutting corners—it’s by improving outcomes and investing in people. From rural Alaska to working-class Ohio, I saw communities reinventing healthcare through local ownership, transparency, and common sense. These Community-Owned Health Plans not only deliver better care but also reinvest savings into education, infrastructure, and opportunity.

This journey led to the creation of Health Rosetta, a blueprint for evidence-based health benefits that are good for employees, communities, and employers alike. Whether it’s a small hotel company in Florida cutting costs by 55% while improving outcomes, or manufacturers like Phifer Inc. in Alabama creating healthcare dividends that fund scholarships, summer programs, and childcare, these are not dreams, they’re examples.

To accelerate this transformation, we launched the Nautilus Health Institute, a non-profit initiative backed by over $4 million in investment, open-source tools, and the guidance of pioneers like Marilyn Bartlett and Leah Binder. Our goal is to fundamentally reshape the healthcare supply chain by 2030, replacing opacity and profit-driven incentives with transparency, ethics, and community governance.

Every story, every tool, and every policy idea stems from real communities already doing the work. What began as a personal reckoning has grown into a national movement. I wrote my books, The CEO’s Guide to Restoring the American Dream, The Opioid Crisis Wake-up Call, and Relocalizing Health, to share this knowledge widely.

If you’ve found your way here, you’re likely someone who sees the same crisis I see. Maybe you’re a civic leader, a benefits advisor, a business owner, or anybody who’s seen too much needless suffering at the hands of our so-called health system.

Whatever your role, you are part of the solution. The system won’t be fixed from the top down. But community by community, change is already underway—and when that kind of change takes root, it’s unstoppable.

📬 Start here:

• Download my books and resources for free at healthrosetta.org/friends
• Subscribe for updates at healthrosetta.org/employers
• Share your success stories or ideas: dave.chase@healthrosetta.org

Let’s take back the American Dream—one community at a time.