This Week in Startups
This Week in Startups

Dr. Mark Hyman on Function Health & GLP-1 microdosing | E2334

September 4, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Dr. Mark Hyman, the physician behind the podcast The Doctor's Farmacy and the startup Function Health, joined Jason Calacanis on This Week in Startups to explain why he believes the American healthcare system is failing the vast majority of its citizens — and how a data-driven, self-directed approach to biology might fix it. Hyman, who still sees patients in Massachusetts but now focuses on scaling his platform, argues that the current medical model is essentially "disease insurance," not health insurance, and that patients have been passive participants in a system that spends more money every year while making people sicker.

The wedge: giving people their own biology

Function Health was born from a simple observation: the typical concierge doctor relationship, which can cost $25,000 to $250,000 a year, offers a deep analysis of a patient's biology that most Americans never get. Hyman wanted to democratize that access. The result is a membership for roughly a dollar a day — about $365 a year — that includes a comprehensive blood panel of over 160 biomarkers tested twice annually, plus optional add-ons for cancer screening, heavy metals, hormones, and brain health. The retail price for these labs alone, Hyman says, can run $15,000. Function partners with Quest Diagnostics, which has over 2,000 draw stations, to keep costs low. "We don't own the lab," Hyman explained. "

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **The Crisis in American Healthcare** - Dr. Hyman opens with staggering statistics: 1 in 3 Americans skip doctor visits due to cost, 93% have metabolic dysfunction, 75% are overweight or obese, and 65% have high insulin levels that never get checked.
  • 2 (01:30) **Dr. Hyman's Background and the Birth of Function Health** - Hyman explains his transition from seeing tens of thousands of patients in private practice to founding Function Health as a way to scale root-cause medicine to millions.
  • 3 (03:27) **What is Function Health? The Philosophy of Self-Directed Healthcare** - Hyman defines Function as a platform that empowers people with their own data, using technology and AI to make sense of complex biology.
  • 4 (04:58) **Functional Medicine vs. Function Health** - Hyman clarifies the distinction between the discipline of functional medicine and the company Function Health.
  • 5 (06:45) **The Concierge Doctor Experience, Democratized** - Hyman explains how Function Health bridges the gap between expensive concierge care ($25K-$250K/year) and the broken system most Americans face.
  • 6 (09:30) **The Bizarre Pricing of Healthcare** - Hyman exposes the lack of transparency in healthcare pricing, using Cleveland Clinic as an example where a vitamin D test costs $300 vs. $10 at Quest.
  • 7 (12:32) **What the Data Reveals: Astounding Population-Level Findings** - Hyman shares the shocking results from Function's database of over 100 million biomarkers on hundreds of thousands of members.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Dr. Mark Hyman Jason Calacanis

Show Notes

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Today's show:

Your doctor almost certainly isn't testing your insulin. Dr. Mark Hyman sits down with Jason to explain the broken system that Function is fixing, and what 100 million biomarkers say about how sick America actually is.

Learn why insulin beats blood sugar as an early warning for TKTKTK. Why might "normal" lab ranges be unreliable? PLUS, how does an expert like Dr. Hyman feel about GLP-1s and psychedelics?

Guests:

Dr. Mark Hyman on X: https://x.com/drmarkhyman

Function: https://www.functionhealth.com/

Relevant Links: