Beyond Healthcare Costs: Shifting from Repair to Maintenance in Our Communities

Welcome to Relocalizing Health, the podcast where we dive into how local communities can reclaim their healthcare dollars and shape healthier, more vibrant futures. In this episode, host Dave Chase sits down with the ever-insightful Esther Dyson - investor, writer, and founder of the 10-year Wellville project, for a deep conversation about what it really takes to create lasting health at the community level.

Kicking things off, Esther challenges us with a provocative comparison: we do a better job maintaining our cars than our own bodies. She and Dave explore why the true challenge in healthcare isn’t just about lowering costs, but making healthcare itself less necessary through prevention and social connection.

Esther shares the inside story of Wellville, reflecting on lessons learned from working far beyond the “tech fix” mindset and instead focusing on trust, social fabric, and local leadership. They discuss the importance of making “new mistakes,” the pitfalls of short-term thinking in both healthcare and corporate America, and how employers can - and do - become powerful agents for community well-being.

Together, Esther and Dave dig into everything from the power of data and the need for long-term investment, to the complicated dance between local action and national systems. Listen in for practical wisdom, hard-earned insights, and a dose of optimism about ways we can rebuild a healthier society from the ground up.

Timestamps:

00:00 "Reclaiming Healthcare Dollars Locally"

06:10 "Health X Prize Proposal"

09:32 Building Trust: A Decade's Insight

11:47 Collaborative Catalyst Metaphor

14:37 Preventive Healthcare Innovation

17:22 "Short-Term Focus Hurts Healthcare"

21:07 Transforming Community Through Health Initiatives

23:48 "Restoring Humanity in a Gig Economy"

28:55 Employer Healthcare Data Challenges

33:26 Healthcare Economy Dynamics

34:19 "Relocalizing Health Gratitude"

Learn More:

RosettaFest 2025 - https://rosettafest.org/

Health Rosetta - http://healthrosetta.org/

Nautilus - https://www.nautilushealth.org/

Kynexions - https://kynexions.com/

Dave Chase - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chasedave/

Podcast Website - https://relocalizinghealth.com/