--- title: Workers' Health Insurance Could Get a Lot More Expensive Next Year description: Employers expect record 2026 health insurance cost hikes, with rising premiums, drug prices and expiring ACA subsidies driving expenses. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 498 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2025-08-28T12:30:28.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News word_count: 592 canonical: https://money.com/2026-health-cost-spike/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo-illustration of a stethoscope coming out of a one hundred dollar bill.](https://img.money.com/2025/08/News-Healthcare-Costs-Grow.jpg) Health insurance costs keep piling up. Employers are expecting health plan expenses to spike 9% in 2026, according to a [new survey](https://www.businessgrouphealth.org/newsroom/news-and-press-releases/press-releases/2026-employer-health-care-strategy-survey) from the Business Group on Health, or BGH. That’s the highest increase on record, with the health-benefits trade group going back to 2017. “The story this year is perhaps more daunting and sobering than it has ever been,” Ellen Kelsay, the president and CEO of BGH, said on a press call last week ahead of the survey’s release. The “somber forecasts” for next year are in addition to an abnormally high 8% projection from last year, the group's report says. Employers in the survey say they might be able to contain the cost increases in 2026 to 7.6% — also a record high — if they take cost-cutting measures to their health plans. ## Staying healthy has never been more important ### Protect yourself and your loved ones with a comprehensive and affordable health insurance plan. Click your state to learn more. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/d83a3e2738f7?ap_referrer=%2F2026-health-cost-spike%2F) BGH’s survey is based on responses from 121 major employers with health plans that collectively cover 11.6 million workers. According to the health research nonprofit [KFF](https://files.kff.org/attachment/Employer-Health-Benefits-Survey-2024-Annual-Survey.pdf), employers that offer health insurance typically pay between 75% and 85% of the plan’s expenses and pass the rest onto workers. The remainder is usually deducted from their paychecks in the form of premiums. In 2024, the typical health insurance premium for a single worker was $8,951 annually, KFF says, with $1,368 paid out of pocket by the worker and about $7,600 covered by the employer. Separate [research](https://www.mercer.com/assets/us/en_us/shared-assets/local/attachments/pdf-2025-us-survey-on-health-and-benefit-strategies-for-2026.pdf) from the financial consulting firm Mercer suggests that the ratio might change next year, as 51% of employers say they are likely to shift more health plan costs onto their employees. “More employers will likely reduce benefits in 2026 as they try to control fast-growing health benefit costs,” Beth Umland, director of health and benefits research at Mercer, says in a [report](https://www.mecer.com/en-us/insights/us-health-news/as-benefit-costs-surge-employers-face-tough-decisions-for-2026/). ## What’s driving up health insurance costs? Most employers in BGH’s survey agree on a handful of factors that are increasing the price of employer-sponsored health insurance. About 8 in 10 employers say that increased usage of new obesity treatments (such as Ozempic and Wegovy) is making plans pricier. Nearly three-fourths point to a higher prevalence of cancer among employees than in previous years. Increasing treatments for mental health and other chronic conditions are other core reasons, employers say. [Soaring pharmaceutical prices](https://money.com/prescription-drug-costs-record-high/) are exacerbating these trends. Employers tell BGH that they expect prescription drug costs to jump by 12% next year. The group says a “macro-level overhaul of the pharmacy supply chain is needed to address pharmaceutical costs.” ## Obamacare costs are slated to jump, too An estimated 65% of private-sector workers have health insurance through their workplace, according to [figures](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ebs2.pdf) from the Department of Labor. Folks without a workplace plan can get health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. Major price increases are coming for those plans, too. At the end of the year, enhanced subsidies that lower premium payments for health coverage through the ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare, are set to expire. The boosted subsidies — enacted by former President Joe Biden’s [Inflation Reduction Act](https://money.com/inflation-reduction-act-save-you-money/) — have lowered premium payments by an estimated $705 a year for those who receive the discounts, according to KFF. If Congress does not renew the subsidies, premium payments are expected to increase by more than 75% on average, KFF says. And the non-partisan [Congressional Budget Office](https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-07/60523-2024-07-premium-tax-credit.pdf) estimates that 7.4 million Americans could lose ACA coverage as a result. ## Protect yourself and your family with a quality Health Insurance plan — Sign up for yours today ### Get more information now by clicking below. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/zde518915a6d?ap_referrer=%2F2026-health-cost-spike%2F) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/37668/medium_fdc4868b-7284-4f34-894e-d1f7f503c688.webp) Secure your future with comprehensive Health Insurance today! [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/z3fd4391435d?ap_referrer=%2F2026-health-cost-spike%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/2026-health-cost-spike/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Health Care", "item": "https://money.com/health-care/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Workers' Health Insurance Could Get a Lot More Expensive Next Year" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/2026-health-cost-spike/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/2026-health-cost-spike/", "name": "Workers' Health Insurance Could Get a Lot More Expensive Next Year", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2025-08-28T12:30:28.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/2026-health-cost-spike/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/2026-health-cost-spike/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Workers' Health Insurance Could Get a Lot More Expensive Next Year", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2025/08/News-Healthcare-Costs-Grow.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Healthcare-Costs-Grow" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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