2026 Premiums Are a Shakedown.
Independent Medicine Doesn’t Have to Pay.
Independent medicine is the last honest corner of American healthcare.
You build value in exam rooms, not boardrooms.
You hire, you train, you show up.
Then every fall, the cartel sends a renewal that punishes you for their bloat, and calls it “trend.”
2026 is the line in the sand.
The insurers already told regulators what’s coming: double-digit hikes, the steepest since 2018, because of “costs.”
Translation: they raised prices, used more care, negotiated richer contracts with health systems, and now you’re the ATM. And thanks to policy whiplash, they’ll take even more.
You can keep playing their game.
Or you can opt out.
Part 1 — Fully Insured: The Tax on Independence
If you’re still fully insured on your employee benefits here’s the reality for 2026:
The Boring (But Very Real) Drivers
Executive Salaries. Executive compensation at the top 50 health systems exceeds $10M per year. What a joke.
Medical trend ~8%. Hospital, physician, and drug costs ratchet up; carriers pass it through.
GLP-1s. Popular and pricey. Pharmacy budgets swell.
Labor pressure. Health systems extract higher rates because their staffing costs have exploded.
Enhanced premium tax credits expire 12/31/25. Out-of-pocket for subsidized enrollees jumps 75%+ in January; healthier folks drop coverage; the risk pool gets sicker. Insurers tack on ~4% just for that.
Tariffs. Drugs/equipment/supplies get pricier; carriers layer ~3% “just in case.”
Regulatory uncertainty. New Marketplace operations rules finalized late; filings padded for “unknowns.”
Net effect: Across a broad sample of ACA carriers, median increases ~15%, with nothing new in return. Same prior auth games. Same narrow networks that steer to health systems. Same black box.
Fully insured is not insurance.
It’s a tax on small and mid-sized independent practices that refuse to kneel.
Part 2 — The Counterpunch: The
The Summit Health Plan
If you want a different outcome, you need a different structure. The Summit Health Plan was built for independent practices, from solo to 2,500 employees, to buy healthcare like a Fortune 50 without selling your soul to one.
What changes with Summit
Zero-barrier care. No copays. No deductibles. No coinsurance. No pre-authorizations. Your people get care; your practice gets productivity.
Fortune-50 pricing at any size. We negotiate at scale and give the smallest groups the best rates.
Keep care independent. Summit aligns to physician-led care, not health-system funnels.
Radical transparency. You see what’s paid, to whom, and why. No black-box “admin loads.”
Full-stack benefits. Health, Rx, dental, vision, and specialty that actually work together.
Built for independent practices (your staff), not your patients. This is the plan for the team that runs your practice.
What it means in 2026
While fully insured plans climb ~15%, The Summit Health Plan is engineered to cut total cost and kill friction.
You stop financing health-system profit strategies and start financing your growth.
Who this is for
The private practice that refuses to be a farm team for a health system.
The group that wants to hire better, retain longer, and stop losing margin to nonsense.
The Decision
You can accept the 2026 shakedown and call it “the market.”
Or you can Summit, and take your purchasing power back.
If you’re a solo practice, you’re not “too small.” You’re exactly who Summit was built for.
If you’re 50–500 employees: you’re the sweet spot, largest gains, fastest wins.
If you’re 500–2,500: lock in scale economics without surrendering control to a health system.
Next step: Email info@phycap.com “Summit” and we’ll show you exactly how the numbers break for your headcount and current renewal.
Independence isn’t a slogan.
It’s a purchasing strategy.
Stop paying for someone else’s bloat.
Build your advantage.
Physician Led Healthcare for America!
Doctors Who Are Builders — This Is Your Event 🚨
September 7–9 • Santa Fe, NM
The PHA Leadership Summit is where physician-entrepreneurs get the playbook for scaling, protecting, and owning their future.
💡 Learn from some of the best in independent medicine
💡 Master revenue, risk & operational excellence
💡 Network with doctors who think like founders
Seats are limited — secure yours now.
➡️ https://physiciansled.com/phas-2025-leadership-summit/
- Rojas out