United States Healthcare Discount Plan Market Size

US Healthcare Discount Plan Market Analysis

The United States healthcare discount plan market is expected to register a CAGR of 11.3% during the forecast period of the study (2022-2027).

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the healthcare system of the country, as the United States recorded one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths globally. Due to the lockdown restrictions and other limitations, initially, healthcare services other than COVID-19 were impacted in the country. For instance, according to a research study published by David Blumenthal et al., in October 2020, due to the pandemic, there were unprecedented changes in the demand for health services, and in the first months of the crisis, office-based practices saw a 60% drop in visitors' numbers which had its impact on the studied market. However, as the United States was one of the most severely affected countries by COVID-19, the demand for healthcare services and prescriptions increased after the initial decline, and thus, the studied market is expected to grow with the increasing demand for the healthcare services in the country.

Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and musculoskeletal disorders, among many others, are highly prevalent in the United States, which not only increasing the healthcare expenditure of the country but also the out-of-pocket spending of the people, and due to this factor, the discount medical plan market is expected to grow in the country as people want different healthcare facilities as per their budget and at a lower cost.

For instance, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the health expenditure of the United States is increasing every year, and it was about USD 4.1 trillion in 2020 which is expected to reach USD 6.2 trillion by 2028. Also, as per the National Health Expenditure data for 2021, the out-of-pocket healthcare spending in the United States increased from USD 386.5 billion in 2018 to USD 388.6 billion in 2020 and it is still increasing every year. This data shows an increasing healthcare expenditure in the country, and to reduce their burden, people are opting more and more for healthcare discount plans offered by different players in the country as these plans offer better and higher discounts as compared with conventional monthly premium insurance plans which are usually very high.

Furthermore, with the increasing healthcare cost for various services and treatments in the country, the demand for private health discount plans is increasing, and tapping the opportunity, the Discount Medical Plan Organizations (DMPOs) present in the country are launching new plans or initiating offering greater discounts along with other initiatives such as collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and others, to offer affordable plans to a wider population in the country which is further expected to have a significant impact on the growth of the healthcare discount plan market as these developments will increase the competition in the market which eventually will benefit the consumers and increase the adoption of the discount services and thus, the studied market will grow in the United States. However, the presence of better alternative insurance plans offering better services and discounts is expected to restrain the growth of the healthcare discount plan market in the United States over the forecast period of the study.