Healthcare is broken. But treating it like an unavoidable force of nature is not leadership.

In this episode of Is Anything Real?, Adam W. Barney is joined by David Silverstein, founder and CEO of Amaze Health and author of The Lean Health Plan: How American Businesses Can Fix Our Broken Healthcare System, for a systems-level conversation about healthcare, employer responsibility, and the leadership cost of learned helplessness.

David’s argument is direct:
American businesses are not just victims of healthcare complexity.

They are active sponsors of the system their employees live inside.

And if employers are funding the system, selecting the vendors, sharing the cost with employees, and carrying Fiduciary responsibility, then they cannot keep pretending healthcare is “just how it works.”

They have to understand it.

They have to question it.

They have to manage it like the major business system it is.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why employers became central to the American healthcare system
• Why many leaders treat healthcare like weather, taxes, or annual bad news
• How complexity creates learned helplessness inside the C-suite
• Why self-insured employers have more responsibility than they may realize
• The hidden administrative machine behind claims, networks, TPAs, PBMs, and pricing opacity
• Why businesses tolerate healthcare complexity they would never accept in payroll, procurement, Travel, or supply chain
• What “active sponsorship” means for leaders managing Health benefits
• Why the government is unlikely to rescue employers from this system
• How AI and blockbuster drugs may accelerate healthcare cost pressure
• The Broken System Audit leaders can use on healthcare or any recurring operational migraine

One of the clearest takeaways:
Complexity does not excuse inaction.

Leadership is not the search for perfect answers.

It is the discipline of taking responsibility inside imperfect, complex systems.

Guest: David Silverstein – Founder + CEO, Amaze Health

• Author of The Lean Health Plan: How American Businesses Can Fix Our Broken Healthcare System
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsilverstein/
• Amaze Health: https://amazehealth.com/
• Email: [email protected]

Host: Adam W. Barney – Transition Leadership Coach | Creator of EnergyOS | Author of Make Your Own Glass Half Full

• Website: https://adamwbarney.com/
• Book: https://makeyourownglasshalffull.com/
• 👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

Most Recent Episodes

July 15, 2026

Visibility Is Infrastructure: How Wednesday Women Built a Global Movement | Ep. 70 w/ Leslie Greenwood & Melissa Moody (Wednesday Women)

Visibility is not vanity.It is infrastructure.If people cannot be seen, they cannot be funded, promoted, hired, followed, or supported.In this episode of Is Anything Real?, I sit down with Leslie...

Listen · 27:24

July 8, 2026

Strategy Won’t Save You: The Adaptive Leadership Skills Complexity Demands | Ep. 69 w/ Max Martina (Cambridge Leadership Associates)

The hardest leadership problems are rarely solved by another strategy deck.They are solved by changing how people behave, decide, learn, and lead when the old playbook stops working.In this episode...

Listen · 29:22

July 1, 2026

Can Leaders Actually Change? The Stress Pattern Behind Identity and Security | Ep. 68 w/ Alex Moses (Identisophia)

Stress isn’t caused by what’s happening to you. It’s the internal chain reaction you run under pressure — and once you can see it, you can interrupt it. In this episode of Is Anything Real?,...

Listen · 24:55

Load More Episodes

Adam W. Barney Transition Leadership Coach | Operating Rhythms That Hold Under Pressure 🎯 | Author & Podcast Host

Adam W. Barney works with transitioning leaders at pivotal moments - career shifts, leadership inflection points, and identity resets - helping them regain clarity, direction, and sustainable momentum.