Health research organization KFF’s latest survey on employer-sponsored health insurance finds that premiums have increased by about 5 percent.
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The Good Brigade/Digital Vision/Getty Images
Joseph Babbitt of Springfield, Missouri, has a very good deal when it comes to health insurance. He works as senior financial controller for West Plains Veterinary Supply, which employs about 50 people and distributes pet food, toys and veterinary supplies throughout the region.
Like approximately 157 million Americans, Babbitt has insurance through his job. Unlike most Americans, his job offers exceptionally generous benefits. “Our owners are very nice: they provide health care to all our employees and pay them,” he says. The company offers several different plan options and covers most or all of the cost of the monthly premium.
So why, even with free premiums, do we still feel like healthcare costs are way too high? “Everyone talks about health care and how much it costs them,” Babbitt says. He explains that even without monthly premiums, a high deductible can be brutal: It’s the amount the patient must pay out of pocket before the insurance company starts paying for doctor visits, procedures, etc.
Now 60, he remembers a time when things weren’t so bad. “In the ’90s, our deductibles were $250 (or) $500 – now they’re $5,000,” he says. “That seems like a lot.”
“We are the only country on our planet that pushes people into bankruptcy because they get sick,” he adds.
The cost of a new car, each year
Health care costs are rising rapidly in the United States, and even workers with strong health care benefits through their jobs are feeling it, according to an annual survey of nearly 2,000 employers about their health benefits. The report was released Thursday by KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization.
“The average health insurance premium for a family of four is now $28,000, which is just a ton of money,” says Matthew Rae, associate program director of Health Care Marketplace at KFF. “That’s basically the cost of a new car every year, just to insure a family of four.” Of this total family premium, workers pay on average about $7,000 per year and employers pay the rest.
One glimmer of positivity is that plan costs are not increasing as quickly as in the past, he says. “We are seeing a 5% increase in family health insurance premiums, continuing a period of modest growth,” he says. This increase is roughly equivalent to workers’ wages and inflation.
However, “a 5% increase on a large number is still a lot of money,” Rae points out. Additionally, growth in the portion of premiums paid by workers was 9%. “If this is the start of shifting costs to workers, that would be a big problem in terms of affordability,” he says.
“We’re asking people to contribute a lot of money,” adds Rae. “Many people spend a large portion of their income on health insurance.”
The uninsured rate is increasing
Another report published Thursday demonstrates the impact of these high costs on the health of populations. The survey, conducted every two years by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation that supports independent research, is called “The State of Health Insurance Coverage in 2026.”
Even among workers lucky enough to receive health benefits, “about 43 percent said they did not receive health care because of cost in the past year, and about 31 percent reported having medical debt,” says Sara Collins, lead author of the report.
Another key finding is that the overall uninsured rate has increased over the past two years. Collins says that’s important but not surprising, because of federal policy decisions such as the expiration of additional federal subsidies for people enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans and the loss of Medicaid after the pandemic emergency ends.
Federal data shows that millions of people have already lost health coverage, either through Medicaid or the ACA marketplaces. When work requirements take effect next year, millions more people are expected to lose Medicaid.
“There is, I think, a strong feeling across the country that something probably needs to be done to address the situation that people are facing with health and health insurance — both on the cost side and also the loss of coverage,” Collins said.
“We asked people whether the federal government has a responsibility to ensure that all Americans receive news coverage and nearly three-quarters said yes, including about 45% of Republicans, 93% of Democrats and 76% of independents.”
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