News & Insights

A year ago, the Constricted Consumerism prediction was 100% on track, and that doesn’t change a year later. Whether it’s continued restrictions from insurers, like more prior authorizations (and the failure of congress to act on them), or the continued pressure on rural healthcare, consumers face an increasingly difficult healthcare landscape. And the future in that regard looks awfully dim. The impact of the new Trump administration on healthcare could be monumental, and there’s little reason to suspect that the next few years will be beneficial for healthcare consumers. Consider the millions who would face higher costs should the ACA insurance subsidies be allowed to expire. There was even talk during the election of shifting the ACA marketplace to create insurance pools based on healthcare need, or eliminating the rule requiring insurers to ignore pre-existing conditions. Both of these will be sold as more “choice” for consumers, but as with many promises in healthcare, the opposite will be true. We also see the continued slow but sure shift from employer-sponsored health insurance to companies providing cash allowances and sending employees out into that very same ACA market place.