The good news is every challenge is also an opportunity. By addressing the economic realities of healthcare consumption, payment programs are reshaping demand, improving affordability, and unlocking better outcomes for patients, providers, payers, and the healthcare system as a whole.
Let’s explore how payments impact the economics of affordability.
Payments and the Economics of Healthcare Demand
You might believe that healthcare demand is fixed based on physical healthcare needs. After all, you only seek an X-ray when you think you might have broken a bone. However, studies show that healthcare, like any other service, is influenced by a demand curve. As costs decrease, demand increases. When patients are asked to pay large out-of-pocket costs upfront, demand often stalls, leaving people to delay or entirely forgo necessary care.
There is evidence that demand for care in the U.S. is artificially suppressed. In a 2024 study by Nonfiction Research, 40% of workplace-insured Americans reported delaying care due to cost. Even for Americans who earn a good wage, inflation and the unexpected nature of healthcare costs can conspire to suppress natural healthcare demand, creating negative health consequences.
Research shows that it’s not just the price of care that stalls demand. The availability of funds to pay that price plays a major role in whether or when people get care. The Liquidity Sensitivity of Healthcare Consumption, a landmark study by J.P. Morgan, illustrates how financial liquidity impacts healthcare decisions. For example, prescription drug fills for low-income Medicare Part D recipients increase by over 10% on the day Social Security checks are deposited. Research such as this makes it clear that cash flow often determines whether patients can access care.
Addressing Liquidity Sensitivity Through Payments
If liquidity plays such an important role in healthcare demand, then solutions that improve liquidity can also increase demand, improving access and well-being. Our experience shows that people don’t have to experience a cash payday to have improved liquidity. Redesigning payments over time is another way to shift the healthcare demand curve to the right. When costs can be managed as a series of predictable payments, affordability increases, care is unlocked, and the whole system benefits because a patient has paid their provider and is on their way to recovery.
The Health Payment Account (HPA), a benefit we designed to create instant liquidity for healthcare, is a great example. With the HPA, liquidity is available on demand, ensuring that out-of-pocket costs are not a barrier to care—they are simply rearranged into a predictable series of payments that are easier to afford.
And we know it works to restore demand for necessary healthcare services. In a January 2025 survey, 80% of HPA user respondents reported accessing care they would have delayed or skipped without their Paytient card. The demand curve has shifted to the right.
The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan (M3P), introduced in 2025, allows Medicare Part D beneficiaries to redesign their payments for covered prescription drugs. This is another example of payment design that will have a huge impact on the health of American seniors.
Real-World Implications of Improved Affordability
Health payment solutions are offered by employers and payers because the benefit to the employee or member results not only in improved health but in a strengthened relationship. parities.
1. Better Outcomes
More accessible and affordable care enables earlier interventions and improved medication adherence, reducing the risk of complications and lowering long-term costs for both patients and payers.
2. Financial Security
Payment solutions provide predictability and peace of mind not just for patients because they can handle unexpected costs without tapping savings or derailing their financial plans. The confidence to pay for care also allows them to embrace higher deductible plans with lower premiums, freeing up dollars that can be saved pre-tax.
3. Workplace Productivity
The Health Payment Account has been proven to improve retention, productivity, and benefit satisfaction. Employees report lower stress and a feeling that their employer cares about them.
Economic Benefits Beyond Patients
Improving affordability through payment solutions doesn’t just benefit patients, though—it transforms the entire healthcare ecosystem.
Providers
Payment solutions ensure timely and predictable reimbursements for providers, reducing administrative burdens and improving financial stability.
Payers
Improved access and adherence lead to fewer high-cost complications and hospitalizations, lowering long-term costs for payers and health systems.
Society
A healthier population is a more productive population. By reducing financial barriers to care, payment solutions contribute to societal benefits such as increased workforce productivity, improved longevity, and reduced reliance on social services.
Our Vision of Cost Transformation Through Payment Design
By addressing the economic barriers to healthcare, innovative payment design solutions are creating a more equitable and sustainable system—one where cost isn’t inhibitive to care.
As our CEO, Brian Whorley has noted, “Time is the least expensive axis by which to extend affordability to patients and price certainty to providers.” This idea paves the way for innovative solutions that benefit all and carry the potential to revolutionize healthcare. Looking ahead, the principles of payment design can be applied beyond Medicare Part D to Medicare Parts A and B, employer-sponsored health plans, and other areas of care. Making healthcare costs predictable and manageable doesn’t have to mean anyone loses—in fact, it could very well be the solution that helps everyone win.
The future of healthcare isn’t just about managing costs—it’s about designing ways to pay that prioritize access, outcomes, and sustainability for every person, provider, and organization involved.
