Chronic illness, affordability challenges and the role of payers in 2025

The healthcare market is at an inflection point. Breakthrough pharmaceutical treatments are revolutionizing care for chronic conditions, yet fueling a growing affordability crisis. Advancements in healthcare have likely contributed to improved health outcomes for patients. For instance, cancer death rates decreased by one third between 1991 and 2021. However, chronic diseases like cancer are becoming more prevalent and affecting younger people, indicating a sicker and aging population.

In this episode, Millennium Live sits down with Sri Palanisamy, a principal in ZS’s health plan and provider practice, and Shane Mulhern, director of strategy and innovation at Regence. They discuss the core issues plaguing healthcare, the ways small- to mid-sized health plans can respond and:

• How and why the paradigm of health insurance is changing
• Opportunities for small- to mid-sized health plans to compete on scale and drive better outcomes by partnering with providers
• Innovations and collaborations that give them optimism for the future