The Pulse from UnitedHealthcare: What’s driving health care innovation?
From rising costs to evolving consumer expectations, Jean-François Beaulé shares the forces shaping health care and employer benefits strategies.
By Jean-François Beaulé, executive vice president of design and innovation for UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual
Innovation in health care is often described as something futuristic — new technologies, emerging breakthroughs or the next big transformation on the horizon. But the reality is simpler: Innovation today is being shaped by the cost pressures and problems needed to be solved in our current moment. Costs are rising, employer strategies are shifting, and consumers and providers are asking for better, more intuitive experiences from the system.
In 2026, innovation isn’t a luxury or a long-term aspiration. It’s a necessity to deliver “net new value.” The system is asking us to rethink how we design, deliver and support care — and to do so in ways that are practical, human-centric and sustainable.
1. Rising costs are forcing the entire system to rethink how it works
For years, employers have relied on a familiar set of levers — plan design updates, network adjustments, cost-sharing, point solutions — to manage their benefits. But the current environment is stretching those resources to their limits and employers are weary of their fiduciary responsibility of delivering high value health plans for their employees and families.
Globally, the forecasted trend rate for medical costs is 9.8% in 2026, and North America alone is projected at 9.3%, up from 8.8% the prior year.1 Meanwhile, U.S. employees are feeling the impact. In 2025, employer-sponsored family premiums increased 6% with families paying an average of $6,850 and employers contributing $20,143.2 This is on top of 25%+ cumulative general inflation since 2021.3
These pressures are prompting employers to look deeper into their strategy toolbox — considering more focused networks, adjusting coverage criteria, leaning into primary care referrals and redirection to optimal sites of care, expanding well-being and condition management programs and reevaluating the long-term sustainability of high-cost therapies or of GLP-1s for weight loss.
Dynamics like these are pushing the system to ask harder questions about costs, value and long-term sustainability — and that’s where innovation must rise to meet the moment.
2. Consumers expect more — and they’re reshaping what “good” looks like
While employers navigate affordability pressures, consumers are sending clear signals about what they need from the health care experience.
An industry publication showed that 58% of surveyed consumers reported problems using their benefits while about 10% indicated that those problems caused a delay in obtaining care.4 Yet at the same time, 44% believe health care will improve, driven by advancements in technology, prevention and personalization.5
This combination — dissatisfaction mixed with optimism — creates both urgency and opportunity.
Individuals want:
- Simpler, more predictable experiences
- Clear real-time guidance when making care decisions
- Tools that work the way other parts of their life already do
- Transparent cost and quality information
- Digital support that feels personal and relevant
At UnitedHealthcare, we often say that tracking a claim should be as easy as tracking a package, and that finding the right provider should feel as intuitive as shopping online. Increasingly, people view this as the standard — and innovation must continue moving decisively in this simpler direction
3. Innovation must be practical, human-centric and aligned to real needs
The future of innovation in health care isn’t exciting because of the technology itself — it’s exciting because of what technology and data can enable when thoughtfully applied to a problem to solve. We’ve already made huge strides to apply innovation to real needs in the industry — which includes streamlining the prior authorization process for the benefit of members and providers, simplifying and personalizing navigation on the UnitedHealthcare® app and products like Surest, optimizing the provider search experience and bringing relevant resources easily accessible in the moment of need.
Still, we know there is much more ground to cover. AI, for instance, has the potential to deploy solutions to address some of the more persistent challenges faced by the healthcare industry, including the complexity of navigating the health system and payment cycle transparency. AI can help speed up the time it takes members to get answers about accessing care and managing their benefits, particularly opportunities to make quality, cost-effective decisions about their care.
Yet, it’s crucial that leveraging AI must be done responsibly and with careful consideration of the system as a whole. Using AI is not at all about removing human oversight, but rather automating processes to provide pertinent information and data analysis faster, which can free up time for more meaningful human interactions where they’re most needed. Together, there is the promise to reduce waste and over time augment capacity within the system.
The opportunity is significant. Industry research suggests more than $1T in annual health care spend is expected to shift over the next decade toward new models of care, value and access.7 That shift won’t happen through flashy solutions — it will happen through grounded, system-wide innovation that meets people where they are.
Moving toward what’s possible
Health care is at a pivotal moment. Costs are rising, expectations are shifting and the demand for value — real value — has never been higher. But this moment isn’t just challenging. It’s clarifying.
Innovation in 2026 will be about delivering simplicity, predictability, removing waste and opening capacity for better outcomes. It’s about deploying transparency that fosters alignment of incentives by all stakeholders, and deploying modern experiences that help people be more confident in their health care decisions.
Our responsibility is to design solutions that work for brokers, consultants, employers and — most importantly — the individuals and families we serve. That’s the work in front of us. And I’m optimistic about what’s possible when we balance the needs of today with the opportunities of tomorrow.
Share
