Be it in Medicare Advantage or with health insurance for working people, insurers keep increasing people’s out-of-pocket costs and using prior authorization to deny medically necessary care, with near impunity. Not surprisingly, they are profiting handsomely, while Americans are dying and facing disabilities needlessly.
Health insurance premiums are up a lot in 2026. And, it’s not because of new treatments, it’s because the corporate health insurers can keep raising premiums to maximize profits. Competition in the health insurance marketplace is broken. It neither brings down costs nor improves quality. Health insurers can operate in the dark. People have no clue what they are buying, whether their care will be covered or what they will end up paying for their care.
In 2024, the seven largest health insurers took in $1.5 trillion in revenue and generated $71 billion in profits, according to the Center for Health and Democracy. If these insurers were not profit-seeking entities, no one would be seeing premium increases. They’d be seeing major savings on their health care out-of-pocket costs.
Today, more than 100 million Americans are living with medical debt. Most of them have health insurance. They are underinsured, again because the insurers have no incentive to cover all the care they need.
Over the course of the next decade, Medicare will overpay health insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans around $1 trillion according to the Congressional Budget Office. That is money that should be going to lower Medicare premiums and other out-of-pocket costs. Instead, their shareholders benefit, while driving up Medicare spending.
Meanwhile, Americans are forced to choose their insurance blindfolded. They have no assurance they will get the coverage they need or face inappropriate delays and denials of care. They are gambling with their health and their lives. Corporate greed drives our health care system.
There’s a better way. Medicare for All.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Medicare for all would save $600 billion a year in administrative costs
- Medicare for All addresses racial injustice
- Government agency finds Medicare for all saves money
- Nearly half of Americans can’t afford their health care
- 2026: Five things to think about when choosing between Traditional Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan
