This year has been full of transitions. Some I chose. Some chose me. Some arrived as losses I had to grieve before I could understand what they were making room for. What I found underneath all of it, in the discomfort of not knowing, was a gratitude I hadn't expected. Not for the outcomes. For the process itself.

People are not skipping colonoscopies and mammograms because they are irresponsible. They are skipping care because the system is unaffordable, unpredictable, and intentionally confusing. Confusion benefits the insurer. I am a physician who is no longer willing to be part of that equation.