Employer-Provided Health Insurance Costs Expected To Increase Next Year

You know, it’s honestly impressive how significantly just about every aspect of American life has worsened in just under two years of Donald Trump’s second presidency. Over the last year, we’ve seen costs increase across the board, and now employer-provided health insurance is expected to face its largest price hike in two decades. 

The New York Times reports that a survey by research group Marsh found employer-provided health insurance is expected to rise at least 8% next year. Nearly a third of the 1,800 employers interviewed in the survey said they predict costs will rise more than 10% after making cuts. This is in addition to the 10% increase in out-of-pocket costs workers have faced this year. 

“This year was a rough year, and next year looks like it will be even rougher,” Beth Umland, director of employer research for health and benefits at Marsh, told the Times. 

From the New York Times:

Employers and benefits consultants cited a number of factors contributing to higher costs: rising prices for hospital care and prescription drugs, including expensive medicines for cancer, and robust demand for GLP-1 drugs to treat conditions like diabetes.

But they also pointed to new contributors like hospitals’ and doctors’ use of artificial intelligence to increase payments through better documentation of care. They also blamed increasing reimbursements to some doctors who are out of network and are exploiting a new consumer protection law that allows them to challenge what they were originally paid.

The pressure by hospitals and doctors to charge employers even more is likely to intensify with looming cuts to government plans like Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income individuals.

“This is impacting the companies in a very material way,” Mike Pasterick, an executive at the insurance broker Aon, told the Times. Aon has estimated that employers’ costs could rise by 9.5% next year, raising the average cost per employee above $19,000 if no changes are made. Some employers are cutting coverage for GLP-1’s and spouses who can get insurance through other means to try and offset some of the increases. 

Last year, insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) saw a drastic price hike after Congress and Trump allowed pandemic-era subsidies to expire. ACA insurance is already expensive (speaking from experience), and premiums are predicted to increase again next year. 

As a younger millennial, I’m getting real tired of my entire adult life feeling like a series of rug pulls. When I graduated college, I found a decent office job that provided health insurance and paid enough to make rent. I steadily increased my income and worked jobs that provided good benefits throughout my 20s.  

Now, a decade later, no one’s hiring, and the jobs you can find pay less and likely don’t provide benefits. Everything we were told to believe as kids–work hard, be kind, and you’ll be rewarded–turned out to be a lie. The bare necessities are becoming unaffordable, and the people with the power to do anything about it are, at best, downplaying the issue and, at worst, exacerbating it.

This frustration isn’t rooted in a sense of entitlement; it’s simply wanting the bare minimum that existed for the generations before me. 

So whether you’re getting ACA insurance like me, or getting employer-provided insurance, we’re all facing steeper costs to take care of one of our most basic needs. And somehow the Democratic Party is flummoxed as to why DSA candidates are gaining traction. 

SEE ALSO:

Surprise, Surprise: Millions Have Lost ACA Insurance Due To Cost Spikes

6 States Expand ACA Subsidies To Offset Loss Of Federal Funds