Premiering earlier this year at Sundance and made prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, ESCAPE FIRE interweaves dramatic personal stories with the efforts of leaders battling to transform healthcare at the highest levels of medicine, industry, government, and even the U.S. military. The current battle over cost and access does not ultimately address the root of the problem: we have a disease-care system, not a healthcare system. We spend $300 billion a year on pharmaceutical drugs, almost as much as the rest of the world combined. We pay more, yet our health outcomes are worse. About 65% of Americans are overweight, and almost 75% of healthcare spending goes to preventable diseases that are the major causes of disability and death in our society. The film examines the powerful forces maintaining the status quo—a medical industry designed for quick fixes rather than prevention and for profit-driven care rather than patient-driven care. Destined to be hailed as the definitive film on American healthcare, ESCAPE FIRE offers a way out—a primer on how to save the health of a nation.

“Like a doctor’s carefully structured analysis of a patient’s condition, the film breaks down its massive subject into manageable, clear, but not simplified parts.” —Robert Koehler, VARIETY