November 12, 2025

2026 Is the Year to Rebuild and Redesign Healthcare for Everyone — Starting With the Women Who Power It

New report from Ingeborg Investments predicts that healthcare cannot be fixed until it’s designed for its most frequent, engaged, and underserved users: women. Highlights where startups and investors can lead.

BENTONVILLE, AR — Ingeborg Investments today released its third annual venture-industry research report. The report identifies women as healthcare’s “power users” — the consumers who engage most deeply, spend the most, and drive results — yet whose needs remain chronically under-addressed.

Pressure to reduce costs and improve outcomes continues to intensify across the U.S. healthcare system. Ingeborg’s research concludes that meaningful progress is only possible when the industry designs for and invests in its power users: women.

Redesigning Healthcare Around Its Core Stakeholders

Women drive 60% of U.S. healthcare spending, representing $2.1 trillion annually, yet the system still isn’t built for them. Every other industry builds for its most frequent and loyal users; healthcare has not. Redesigning for women can unlock stronger adherence, improved outcomes and exponential growth.

“In any other industry, the customers who spend the most and engage the deepest are the ones everyone designs for,” said Olivia Walton, Founder & CEO of Ingeborg Investments. “In healthcare, that group is women — and building for them is both good for families and good for business.”

The State of Healthcare Today

Healthcare in the U.S. is strained and increasingly misaligned. Costs are rising nearly 5% annually, 60% of Americans live with at least one chronic condition, and the workforce is facing a projected deficit of 100,000 providers by 2028. At the same time, only one-third of Americans trust the healthcare system, signaling a growing disconnect between patients and providers.

Ingeborg’s report identifies six forces shaping the current system:

1. Rising costs: Healthcare spending is projected to reach 19.7% of GDP by 2032.
2. Erosion of trust: Just one-third of Americans trust the U.S. health system.
3. Workforce strain: A deficit of 100,000 workers is expected by 2028.
4. Environmental impact: Up to 17% of premature deaths are linked to environmental factors.
5. Evolving consumer preferences: 60% of consumers expect healthcare experiences to mirror retail.
6. Connection as health: Chronic loneliness raises death risk by 29%.

The 2026 Roadmap: Opportunities for Innovation and Investment

Ingeborg’s 2026 predictions highlight areas where startups and investors can unlock the full potential of women as healthcare’s power users:

Key Insights for Founders and Investors

• Women are healthcare’s power users and its biggest missed opportunity.
• Every healthcare stakeholder is in the business of women’s health.
• Breakout innovation requires alignment between cost, incentives and representation.
• Effective AI interventions demand diverse, representative data.

The report also explores the business, technology and financing landscapes of healthcare:

• Business: Misaligned incentives among payers, providers and patients have driven costs up 90% in 15 years.
• Technology: After decades of digital adoption, AI can finally deliver efficiency and personalization if trained on representative data.
• Financing: Investors are moving from roll-ups to value-based innovation, opening the door for next-generation care models.

Key Insights for Founders and Investors

Ingeborg Investments is committed to backing innovation designed with women in mind. This philosophy shapes its view on where healthcare’s next wave of high-impact, high-return opportunities will emerge — in solutions that prioritize women not as an afterthought, but as a foundation.

• Trust: Hormonal health solutions that deliver measurable symptomatic relief will win out over insights/data only models
• Workforce: Hormonal health solutions that deliver measurable symptomatic relief will win out over insights/data only models
• Environment: As the connection between environmental and physical health becomes increasingly apparent, consumers will proactively look for ways to take back control via tech enabled interventions
• Consumer Preferences: Cash pay models for early detection will reimagine what access to preventive care means, starting with oncology
• Cost: Provider enablement tooling is poised to breakout as AI native capabilities unlock margin growth potential
• Consumer Preferences: The longevity craze will ultimately catalyze a revival in primary care utilization, but this time driven by DPC and membership models
• Trust: A multi-billion-dollar business will be built in consumer medical records, shifting interoperability into patients’ hands
• Connection: A resurgence in human centric connection and the technology that brings people together in real life will not only thrive but become synonymous with what it means to be healthy

Methodology

The report integrates both qualitative and quantitative research. Findings draw on healthcare investor and founder insights, analysis of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey – Household Component (MEPS-HC), and a review of more than 250 reputable sources.

About Ingeborg Investments

Ingeborg Investments is the venture investment fund within Olivia Walton’s family office. The firm invests in innovation built with women in mind, backing exceptional female founders, funders and leaders across the full female experience — from motherhood and career to financial security, health and better living. Ingeborg focuses primarily on U.S.-based, early-stage opportunities and is female-consumer centric and business-model agnostic in its approach.  Its core strategy of early-stage investing is complemented with select later stage investing and a dedicated LP-commit strategy for women-led VC micro funds.