How Stagflation Is Squeezing the Managed Care Insurers

Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo: High Inflation, Slow Growth, and 1970s Echoes · Aug 10, 2026 · 6m · transcript

In episode 151 of Stagflation Conversations, Lucas and Luna dig into a corner of the economy most of us only meet at open enrollment: private health insurers. With real GDP growth down to 1.5 percent and unemployment at 4.1 percent, the insurers are getting squeezed from both sides. Lucas walks through the numbers: premiums tied to medical inflation, which is running hot even as headline CPI cools to 332.6, and the investing income that's propping up their margins as the S&P 500 stumbles. Luna brings the listener's perspective, asking whether these companies can keep passing costs…