About Us
Our mission is to fight for fairness in a broken health insurance system.
We provide free tools and resources to empower everyday people to challenge insurance denials, ensuring everyone has a chance to access the care they deserve.
Together, let's bring fairness, dignity, and humanity back to healthcare.
Neal Shah
Co-Founder
Gavry Eshet
Co-Founder
A Letter From Our Founders
Like so many of you, we've experienced the crushing weight of the health insurance system's failures. Our team has faced claims denials and debt collection letters for cancer therapies, blood tests and other treatments after dealing with serious illnesses.
These aren't isolated experiences. They're the reality for millions of people. Insurance companies profit by denying care, turning bureaucracy into a weapon against the very people they're supposed to protect. We started Counterforce Health because no one should have to face this fight alone.
Counterforce Health recognizes the breaking point many have reached after decades of systemic inequities and a moment that could serve as the spark for a major era of healthcare reform. Our name reflects the deep frustration that people have faced in an unjust system and stands for the determination to demand a fairer one.
Our mission is to give people the tools, resources, and confidence to push back. We're here to empower the Davids of the world in the fight against the Goliath that is the health insurance system. We've seen victories firsthand, and that's what fuels us every day.
Counterforce Health is a movement to restore fairness and humanity in healthcare. Let's take on the system, together.
Neal and Gavry Co-Founders, Counterforce Health
Advisors and Backers
Dr. David Casarett, MD
Chief of Duke Palliative
Bob Greczyn, MPH
Ex-BCBS CEO
Dr. Linda Rosenstock, MD
Chairperson 路 SCAN Health
Cory Christensen, MBA
Ex-Plum Health CEO
Dr. Erin Kent, PhD
Professor 路 UNC Gillings
Dr. Angela Perone, PhD, JD
Professor 路 Berkeley SOSW
Dr. David Lipsitz, MD
Urologist
LizAnn Eisen, JD
Professor 路 Cornell Tech
Dr. Amy Schiffman, MD
Principal Consultant 路 Aging Here
Let's start with a thought experiment...
Imagine you're hungry and walk into what appears to be a restaurant. There's a host stand, menus, and tables. But as you sit down, you notice something odd: The establishment doesn't actually serve food. Instead, they collect monthly payments from customers in exchange for the possibility of maybe paying for some of your meals at other restaurants, but only after you've paid several thousand dollars out of pocket first, and only at specific restaurants they've deemed "in-network," and only if they agree that your particular meal was "necessary." Oh, and they make more money when you eat less.
This is essentially how American health insurance works, and we've all collectively agreed to pretend this makes sense.
A Broken System
Health insurance is not about healthcare. It's about profit.
Insurers make money by collecting premiums and lose money by paying claims, even labeling healthcare expenses as "losses" in financial reports. While the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to spend 80-85% of premiums on care, the rest funds denial strategies, prioritizing profits over patients.
Denied claims create deliberate obstacles. Many can be overturned on appeal, yet less than 1% of patients challenge them due to bureaucratic complexity. Hospitals and clinics dedicate entire departments to navigating claims, and technology has been weaponized to automate denials and obstruct appeals.
In other countries, healthcare is treated as a public good, achieving better outcomes at lower costs. Meanwhile, the U.S. system prioritizes shareholder value over patient health. This dysfunction reflects broader societal failures. We've accepted complexity as control and systems that extract wealth without providing value.
Change starts by recognizing the problem and refusing to accept it any longer. It's both possible and necessary.
