Health Insurers See Sinking Public Image as a Rising Business Risk

  • Mar 21, 2025

    If their annual filings with federal regulators are any indication, major U.S. health insurers know they have a public-perception problem — and they are concerned by it. But the big question, according to health policy and public relations experts, is how they plan to turn things around. 

    “For decades, the insurance industry has been acting its way into this reputation,” says Max Marcucci, who leads the global risk and reputation practice at Leidar, a communications consultancy. At each firm, “there probably needs to be some real reflection on…what actions could we take, as a company, to try to change people’s perceptions?”  

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  • Leslie Small

    Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.

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