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The Zen Lobbyist

A Mindful Approach to Transforming Healthcare

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Pub Date Sep 09 2025 | Archive Date Sep 14 2025

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Description

The Zen Lobbyist offers a refreshing take on healthcare reform, blending personal wellness practices with systemic change. Gary Jacobs recounts his path from healthcare entrepreneur to advocate, drawing on experiences with meditation, yoga, and mindfulness to shape his unique approach to policy.

This book provides a framework for reimagining healthcare systems that goes beyond traditional medicine, emphasizing primary care, prevention, and collaborative solutions. Jacobs demonstrates how bipartisan efforts can bridge divides to create meaningful change, while also sharing the tools he uses to stay centered amid high-pressure environments.

Readers will find practical advice on managing personal health, leading with mindfulness, and advocating for a more compassionate healthcare system. The Zen Lobbyist is a powerful call to action for anyone seeking to improve both personal well-being and the health of society.

The Zen Lobbyist offers a refreshing take on healthcare reform, blending personal wellness practices with systemic change. Gary Jacobs recounts his path from healthcare entrepreneur to advocate...


Advance Praise

“In The Zen Lobbyist, Gary Jacobs brilliantly threads the needle in describing his personal journey with stress, as well as the psychological and physiological challenges he faced while pursuing the antidote of blending mindful practices. He employed mindful solutions to bring a fresh approach to Capitol Hill while advocating for a healthcare solution that is based in primary care–led teams, managing a population of people. The magic of his work is how his perspective of ‘primary care for all’ expands primary care by integrating behavioral health, pharmacy, nutrition, and wellness solutions. His approach to lobbying is timely as it focuses on bipartisanship, commonality, and mutual respect.”

—Former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy

“I have known Gary for decades. Irrepressible, energetic, optimistic, and ZEN somehow all fit. He has an amazing love for the details and workings of our wacky health system—which makes him far more patient than most of us! His love of health policy—and politics—comes through in everything he does, making The Zen Lobbyist both an entertaining and enlightening read! I need more of whatever Gary is eating!”

—Tom Scully, former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

“In The Zen Lobbyist, Gary Jacobs expertly melds his hard-won knowledge of healthcare at a policy and personal level with his essential message of the nature of well-being. His key proposals—eliminating fee-for-service payment, embracing alternative payment models, and fashioning a strong foundation of comprehensive primary care—will resonate with anyone seeking the dharma, or the ‘right way of living,’ for US healthcare.”

—Susan Dentzer, President and CEO, America’s Physician Groups

“Gary Jacobs connects to readers with his compelling personal narrative and related prescription for what ails the US healthcare system. Jacobs relays his own journey to physical, mental, and spiritual wellness, while simultaneously making the case for better and differently resourced primary care. While wrapping you in a warm embrace, he conveys essential lessons for leaders to achieve better health for all Americans.”

—Ann Greiner, President and CEO, Primary Care Collaborative

“This is a rewarding read that takes us through the process of how public policy has shaped our healthcare system, told through the stories of an incredible person who has devoted their life to making healthcare better for each of us. Gary, through his passion and expertise, brings to the forefront the opportunities we have to create a better system that benefits each of us and the people we love. Well done, a must read.”

—R. Shawn Martin, CEO, American Academy of Family Physicians

“In The Zen Lobbyist, Gary Jacobs brilliantly threads the needle in describing his personal journey with stress, as well as the psychological and physiological challenges he faced while pursuing the...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9798887506333
PRICE $29.99 (USD)
PAGES 216

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