Weekend Healthcare Pulse: The top six insights from our Healthcare Services Teach-in Webinar Series

Our summer teach-in series covered a variety of topics including Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, PBMs, Specialty pharmacy, and UNH's Optum Health and Optum Insight. In this note, we highlight the most important charts and takeaways from our series. MA margins have been driven by competition and pricing discipline pressures over the past two decades, and these same factors are leading to its recovery in 2026. As competition retreats and insurers reduce benefits, scale back membership, and exit unprofitable markets, the sector is expected to see continued margin recovery over the next few years. Medicaid margins are stabilizing as risk acuity pressures decelerate and rates are increasing. We expect a resumption of managed Medicaid growth driven by continued outsourcing of the remaining 40+% of unmanaged Medicaid, primarily in the aged and disabled populations. The PBM industry is shifting toward a more transparent, self-insured employer-style model, moving away from earnings generated thro