5 Lessons Health Insurance Carriers Can Learn from the Vibecession 

5 Lessons Health Insurance Carriers Can Learn from the Vibecession 

Key takeaways

• Carriers must recognize consumer mistrust and frustration. 

• Health insurance data paints a paradoxical picture. 

• Insurance companies can increase consumers’ health and insurance literacy. 

• Validating consumers’ biases first helps change the conversation later. 

• Fight emotion with emotion, not reason or logic. 

• Positive stories need to be repeated—but your actions speak louder than words. 

• Empower consumers to be smarter healthcare shoppers to reduce their costs. 

• Disrupt the status quo in a way that’s unique to your business. 

Kyla Scanlon coined the phrase “vibecession” in a 2022 Substack. The phrase describes how people’s feelings about the economy contradicted the data. People believed the economy was in a recession even though the data painted a fairly rosy picture. Basically, the vibes were bad, hence vibecession. 

Health insurance carriers now find themselves in a vibecession-like situation after a tumultuous 2024 and 2025 that promises to extend into an even messier 2026 and beyond. 

Consumer sentiment’s in the red 

Consumer sentiment with health insurance has fallen precipitously: 

• Healthcare quality and coverage have the lowest positive ratings since 2001. 

• They believe insurance carriers play too big a part in health policy. 

• A pricey, often unaffordable cost burden that too often delays care. 

• Unforeseen bills, in-network claims denials and denied prior authorizations.  

The vibes are bad. Like, really, really bad. 

Health insurance data isn’t clear cut 

In today’s data-driven world, we treat data like an oracle. We say, the data says! But what exactly does it say and who decides? Consider these seemingly contradictory data points. 

Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that 94.39% of 2024 Medicare Advantage and 96.30% of Medicare Part D claims were paid properly. Yet of the top 10 Medicare Advantage providers, 9 overbilled, according to the Inspector General or were accused of fraud by a whistleblower or the U.S. government.  

KFF found that 73% of U.S. adults say delays and denials in prior authorizations are major problems. At the same time, 93+% of medical services and 92+% of prescription medications are not subject to prior-authorization review. 

Is the math not mathing, or could it be that the truth is more complicated and nuanced? Regardless of which data points are “right,” health insurance carriers need to adjust to the vibes. 

Lesson #1: The confusion is real 

Economics, finance, and money are hard. At least for me, which is why I’m a writer. I get the basics of supply and demand, but as soon as you start talking about compound derivatives and futures, my mind is wiped clean as a chalkboard.  

Apparently the same goes for most Americans, with majorities getting it wrong on when we were or weren’t in a recession, the rise of costs vs. wages, wealth accumulation and poverty.  

With health insurance, many of us fall into the confusion boat. As Larry Levitt and Drew Altman said in a 2023 JAMA article, “the reality is that many people are hopelessly confused by how their insurance works.” Consumers may have unrealistic or inaccurate expectations of how health insurance works. They don’t understand how to choose the right plan for them or what costs to expect in their real lives, especially unforeseen ones.  

Carriers can help increase healthcare literacy by simplifying complexity and increasing transparency. They’ve been doing this already with enrollment assessments, guided onboarding via apps, comparison guides with real-world examples and benefit reminders, to name a few.  

But there’s more they could do. Here are a couple examples: 

• Use member and claims data to proactively communicate when providers leave the network and provide guidance on how to find another one. Even if a member is enrolled in a PPO, carriers could use past claims to infer members’ main providers. This helps carriers get ahead of a potential problem and alerts the member that someone’s watching out for them. 

• Trigger automatic communication journeys once someone submits an appeal or a complaint. Most people don’t know that they have the right to appeal denials or which government agency they can contact for help. Giving members this information enhances trust and confidence. They’re more likely to see carriers as doing the right thing for the member over their bottom line. 

Photo by Nik on Unsplash 

Lesson #2: You can’t overcome confirmation bias 

If new information won over old positions, then we’d be able to change our minds on a dime. But the truth is, we often double down, even on decisions we know are bad, like making one more bet to get out of the hole or dating that person hoping one day they’ll change. 

That’s why confirmation bias is so powerful. The more confident we are in an initial choice, the more biased we become, seeking out only information to reinforce our beliefs and blocking out information that contradicts it. 

Growing up, my dad always called out gasoline prices. Like him, I became a watchdog. When prices dropped, I barely registered it; instead, I steadied myself for costs to skyrocket again. And because they always did, I was proven right. See, gas is sooo expensive. Eggs became the gasoline of the vibecession, with abundant sticker shock and negative media coverage. 

Rather than try to convince consumers they’re wrong, carriers should first validate their biases. 

• Yes, health insurance is hard to understand.  

• Yes, navigating the healthcare system is the worst.  

• Yes, denied or delayed coverage is frustrating. 

And then do everything they can to say and do the opposite.  

• Make it excessively simple to understand coverage.  

• Make navigating the system 1% easier year over year.  

• Be more transparent about what services or claims are typically denied to both members and providers.  

• Provide tips to members on how to appeal denials. 

• Host workshops with providers on how to better submit more accurate claims. 

It’s cathartic to kvetch, but it’s more important to be strategic. Once you’ve validated their biases, you have a better chance to reframe and redirect the conversation. 

Lesson #3: Feelings beat facts in the long run 

Not just one, but seven studies confirmed that people who make decisions based on feelings are more rigid in their defense of those feelings, especially over time. “What we document is a basic effect where deciding based on feelings seems to offer people more choice protection,” said Yale researcher Taly Reich.  

Emotions are automatic and unconscious. We can’t choose how we feel. Emotions color our worlds, opinions, and perceptions. And they’re as sticky as a broken jar of honey. 

When consumers feel the economy is depressed, distressed, or uncertain, there are no facts you can use to convince them otherwise. The same is true of consumer sentiment toward health insurance. 

Carriers need to fight feelings with feelings. Infuse your messaging with emotionally resonant words like “frustrating,” “thrilling,” “relaxing,” “satisfying,” etc. Get inside consumers’ heads to figure out what resonates most with them, not what you want them to know about you.  

One way to do this could be leaning into the feeling consumers want. For example, consumers want to feel like their carrier has their back, understands them, and cares about them—they want a feeling of trust. Carriers need to lean into security, empathy, integrity, and hope. Not in a way that ignores reality through spin but that instead reinforces credibility. In practice, this could be acknowledging a denial is frustrating and confusing and also providing a simple pathway to appeal it. 

Addressing consumers’ needs and achieving your business objectives are not mutually exclusive. You just need to find the right angle to approach both. 

Lesson #4: Repeat, repeat, repeat 

People perceive repeated information as more truthful because the more we hear something, the easier it is to process. When we hear again and again how bad the economy is from our friends, neighbors, family, coworkers, social media, and the mainstream media, it’s no wonder we believe it’s true. 

The more we hear about denied claims, delayed prior authorizations, network changes, and formulary disasters, the more we believe they are not just true but rampant.  

Here’s another truth: you can’t stop people from talking to each other, but you can put your consumers at the center of everything you do. That’s the Zappos effect.  

It’s not enough for you to repeat positive stories about yourself as a carrier. Members must repeat them too via word of mouth, social posts, and online reviews. The more you can surprise and delight your members, the more they’ll tell others, becoming promoters rather than detractors. 

Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash 

Lesson #5: We’re living in an affordability crisis 

Steven Pinker says humanity in 2025 is flourishing despite some setbacks. Yet my Spidey senses have been on high alert for half a decade now. One reason for the alert is the steep cost of living. Once-affordable cities like Denver, my forever home, have seen prices tick up and up to the point where previously comfortable locals now feel cash-strapped.  

Economics reporter Annie Lowrey explains how our price sensitivity got cranked up to 11, leading to an affordability crisis for our biggest expenses like healthcare and elder care. She says, “…we don’t have better health outcomes than other countries…we just literally pay more.” Consumers feel this most with out-of-pocket costs. They’re shouldering more of the costs with no Atlas shrug in sight. 

The word “patient” comes from the Latin for “bearing, supporting, suffering, enduring, permitting.” No wonder many consumers remain passive, letting healthcare happen to them—it’s right there in the name. 

Carriers can do more to educate and empower healthcare consumers to bring their savvy in other shopping realms to healthcare.  

• Teach them how to shop for providers for both quality and cost.  

• Educate them about quality of care over quantity of care.  

• Give them a guide to the right level of care when they need it, such as telehealth, home-based, or urgent care.  

• Be relentless in your promotion of preventive care, screenings, and vaccinations. 

SCAN Health gets the assignment 

The Medicare sea of sameness hits high tide during the Annual Election Period (AEP), October 15–December 7. SCAN Health’s 2026 AEP campaign is a master class in differentiation and meeting consumers where they are emotionally. Here’s how they nail every vibecession lesson. 

Lesson #1: The confusion is real 

Instead of denying it or doubling down on self-protection, SCAN Health says the quiet part out loud: health insurance is broken. This says to the consumer: your confusion isn’t your fault; it’s the industry’s fault. It’s unfair to expect you to overcome a gargantuan mess by yourself. That’s why we’re here to help you. 

Lesson #2: You can’t overcome confirmation bias 

Rather than combat bias, SCAN Health embraces it. Their video ad speaks to the inanity of a robot not being able to get your name right, the crazy-making experience of filling out forms with required, yet ambiguous, fields, and the quiet rage of being told your prescription isn’t covered. 

Lesson #3: Feelings beat facts in the long run 

SCAN Health’s campaign drips with emotion. Let me diagram the following sentence to show you how: “Let’s face it, sometimes trying to use your health plan can leave you guessing. From hidden costs to unclear coverage, it’s enough to make your head spin.” 

• “Let’s face it” is conversational and real. It immediately creates a sense of intimacy with the reader. 

• “can leave you guessing” makes you feel seen and understood. The speaker knows all about the anxiety guessing brings. 

• “hidden costs to unclear coverage” speaks to feelings of surprise, confusion, disappointment, hostility, and betrayal consumers can feel when using their coverage. 

• “make your head spin” embodies the overwhelmed, worried, fearful, powerless feelings many consumers experience when selecting and using a health plan. 

Lesson #4: Repeat, repeat, repeat 

Over the course of the ad, SCAN Health repeats its key messages: health insurance is broken, and we’re fighting to change it. They do it visually and verbally.  

• Direct mailers that all look and sound the same. 

• Frantically hitting enter on the keyboard over and over to no avail. 

• Slamming hands on tables and counters in exasperation. 

Lesson #5: We’re living in an affordability crisis 

SCAN Health’s declaration of “people over profits” puts affordability front and center. It’s an implicit promise that they won’t increase prices to appease shareholders or cave to market pressures.  

Don’t misread me. My message isn’t to create a copy-cat campaign from the SCAN Health playbook, but to use these lessons as a framework to help you come at consumer relationships and marketing differently. How these lessons come to life should be unique to you as a carrier based on your mission, company values, key differentiators, and/or value proposition. If integrity is a core value, lean into that with radical transparency. If you’re known for your digital tools, double down to make them even better for members. 

If you’re not sure where to start, we’re here to help. Let’s start dreaming.