2026: the year AI tests the heart of healthcare

In 2025, the healthcare industry experienced significant shake-ups: the uncertain future of premium tax credits; the fracturing of vaccine policy; and rapid innovations in digital health. All these occurred against a backdrop of eroding trust and customer experience. They signal a pivotal moment when stakeholders across healthcare must reassess priorities and rebuild customer trust.

 

Yet as we look ahead to 2026, we see persistent headwinds: the ongoing volatility of policy changes and deteriorating access to care; unchecked AI risks; continued market concentration; and rising consumer frustration. Healthcare organisations (HCOs) must rethink oversight of AI governance and vendor partnerships, as well as the cost of care and the way it’s delivered. We expect 2026 to be a year when bold healthcare insurers and providers differentiate themselves and realign their strategies to meet head-on the effects of new health policies and emerging technologies.

 

Here’s a preview of what we predict for healthcare in 2026:

 

AI will trigger a public breakup between an HCO and its subsidiary

 

Fewer than half of risk management leaders say that their third-party risk management process is mature. As AI permeates healthcare, we’ll witness a public fallout involving a healthcare megabrand scrambling to repair reputational or financial damage (or both).

 

The rate of uninsured will double in 2026 as trust and affordability collapse. A perfect storm of rising costs, subsidies in jeopardy, and eroding trust will drive a spike in consumers opting out of health insurance in 2026. Increased comfort with gen AI is emboldening Gen Z and Millennials alike: 39 per cent are comfortable using a gen AI-enabled tool to evaluate their symptoms. High prices for less coverage and a willingness to roll the dice among younger, healthier generations will drive down enrolment and destabilise risk pools.

 

Rural health workforce shortages will surge 10 per cent as policy shifts impact access to care. Access to care in rural areas, where there is a priority on in-person and at-home care, is deteriorating. Policy changes including the new $100,000 H‑1B visa fees could severely reduce the availability of care in these regions. In 2026, the number of rural or semirural areas with shortages of healthcare professionals will continue to climb. Rural clinicians will need emerging technologies and community health resources to sustain in-person care and aging in place.

 

In the face of extraordinary pressure, HCOs must adapt to remain fiscally responsible while delivering better experiences to customers and staff. Strategic adaptation has become a core competency for the industry. How HCOs respond to the changes around them will determine which of them thrive in the face of disruption.

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You can read more about Forrester’s 2026 Predictions here