Access to Care
Nov 04, 2026
PATIENTS ARE RISING, STATE BY STATE
Many of the decisions about your care are made far from your doctor’s office.
Patients Rising is a national, nonpartisan patient advocacy organization. We help patients and caregivers understand the policies behind their care, speak up where those decisions are made, and change them.
Whether you need help with a bill, a denial, or a diagnosis today, or you’re ready to fix the problem for the next family, start here.
WHY PATIENTS RISING EXISTS
The people most affected by health care decisions are too often missing from the conversation.
A doctor recommends a treatment and an insurer says no. A hospital bill arrives that no one can explain. A family spends months fighting for care that should have been there when they needed it. Behind each of those moments is a decision someone made, in a statehouse, an agency, or an insurer’s office, and somewhere there is another decision that could fix it.
Most patients never learn where those decisions happen or who makes them, and that is the gap Patients Rising exists to close. We connect what happens to patients in everyday life with the policies that shape their care, and we help get the right patient in front of the right decision-maker at the right time, with a clear understanding of what needs to change. Telling a story is where the work begins, not where it ends.
BUILDING PATIENT LEADERSHIP ACROSS AMERICA
Health care decisions are made every day. Patients should be ready when they are.
Some of the most consequential decisions about health care happen far from Washington, in state legislatures, insurance departments, regulatory agencies, and meeting rooms across the country. That’s where questions like how hospitals bill and collect medical debt, which conditions newborns are screened for at birth, what Medicaid covers, and what treatment costs patients get decided.
Patients Rising is building a network of prepared patient and caregiver advocates, state by state, who understand the issues affecting their communities and know how to participate when decisions are being made. Not just when a crisis makes the news, but throughout the long, often complicated process of shaping health care policy.
Our goal is simple: when a decision affects patients, the people who live with its consequences should have the knowledge and opportunity to be heard.
IT STARTS WITH WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU
You don’t need to know anything about health policy to have something important to say.
Maybe your insurance company denied a treatment. Maybe a medicine became unaffordable. Maybe you spent months navigating a system that seemed designed to wear you down. Or maybe something worked, and you want to make sure other patients have the same opportunity.
Whatever happened, we want to understand it. Write it down, record your voice, share a video, or show us the document that tells the story. You don’t have to know which law applies or what should happen next. That’s what we’re here to help you figure out.
What happened to you is yours to tell, and we’ll help you find where it can make a difference.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Advocacy begins with someone deciding their experience is worth sharing.
“Becoming a patient advocate, sharing my story, and connecting with others has shown me that even in life’s darkest moments, something beautiful can grow.”
– Amy
Patient Advocate
“Every story matters, and if sharing mine helps even one person feel seen, supported, or empowered to speak up, that’s why I keep going.”
– Valarie
Patient Advocate