# David Goldhill

> David Goldhill is the co-founder and CEO of Sesame, a cash-pay online marketplace where patients buy doctor visits, labs, and prescriptions at fixed prices with no insurance in between. A former entertainment executive who ran the Game Show Network for a decade, he turned healthcare critic after his father died of a hospital-acquired infection, wrote the 2009 Atlantic cover story 'How American Health Care Killed My Father' and the book 'Catastrophic Care,' then built the company that tries to fix what he spent years writing about. He chairs the board of the patient-safety nonprofit Leapfrog Group and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Sesame
- **Organizations:** Sesame, Leapfrog Group, Manhattan Institute, Columbia University School of Professional Studies, Game Show Network (former), Universal Studios (former), INTH / Independent Network Television Holdings (former), Act III Communications (former)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA, History, Harvard University, MA, History, New York University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Sesame, a cash-pay healthcare marketplace serving consumers nationwide, Authored 'Catastrophic Care' (2013), a widely-cited critique of U.S. health care economics, Wrote the 2009 Atlantic cover story 'How American Health Care Killed My Father,' praised by David Brooks and Fareed Zakaria

## Career timeline

- **early career** — Worked as an investment banker for roughly six years before moving to Los Angeles
- **—** — Chief Financial Officer, Act III Communications
- **until 2004** — President and CEO of Television at Universal Studios, through its acquisition by GE
- **2007** — As chairman and CEO of INTH, founded TV3 Russia national broadcast network; sold to Interros Group for $550 million
- **2007-2017** — President and CEO of GSN (Game Show Network)
- **2009** — Wrote The Atlantic cover story 'How American Health Care Killed My Father'
- **2013** — Published 'Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know about Health Care Is Wrong'
- **2018-2019** — Co-founded Sesame, a direct-to-consumer cash-pay health care marketplace
- **2020** — Sesame launched publicly as a direct-to-consumer healthcare marketplace
- **2022** — Sesame raised a $27M Series B (total funding reported above $100M)
- **2023** — Sesame partnered with Costco to offer discounted telehealth to members

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Sesame, a cash-pay healthcare marketplace serving consumers nationwide
- Authored 'Catastrophic Care' (2013), a widely-cited critique of U.S. health care economics
- Wrote the 2009 Atlantic cover story 'How American Health Care Killed My Father,' praised by David Brooks and Fareed Zakaria
- Founded TV3 Russia, sold to Interros Group for $550 million in 2007
- Ran the Game Show Network (GSN) as CEO for a decade, 2007-2017
- Chair of the board of the Leapfrog Group, a hospital and patient-safety nonprofit
- Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and faculty affiliate in bioethics at Columbia

## Latest updates

- **2024-01** — Featured on the Primary Care Cures podcast discussing Sesame's growth and its strong net-promoter scores across the political spectrum
- **2023** — Sesame expanded reach through a telehealth partnership with Costco

## Links

- Website: https://sesamecare.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/david-goldhill-5bb1a238
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/david_goldhill
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/sesamecare

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-goldhill
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-04