In the coming weeks, the roughly 160 million Americans who get health insurance through work will log into their benefits portals and pick a plan for 2027. Even for people used to rising healthcare costs, what they see may come as a shock. Employer health plan costs are projected to rise 8 to 10% next year, the largest increase in more than 20 years and double the average increase of the 2010s.
History suggests that the American political system makes a bold attempt to reform healthcare about once a generation. President Harry Truman fought for national health insurance in 1945. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in 1965. President Bill Clinton pushed for reform in 1994. And President Barack Obama passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. With healthcare costs already among voters' top concerns, these shocks may create the next generational window for reform.
The enhanced premium tax credits were first passed in the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief bill, then extended in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. They expired on December 31, 2025, after Congress declined to renew them in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
Even after all that switching and leaving, the average premium paid by people on the Marketplaces hit $178 a month in 2026, 58% higher than in 2025 and above the $164 people paid in 2021, the last year before the enhanced credits. Those who left were healthier than those who stayed, so insurers have proposed another 15% increase for 2027, stacked on top of this year’s 20%
If you get insurance through work
The best data we have on 2027 costs comes from the large benefits consulting firms. They project total costs will rise 8 to 10% next year, the largest increase since 2003 and double the average increase of the 2010s. These firms point to more use of care, expensive new drugs, GLP-1s, hospital consolidation, and AI-assisted billing. For a typical worker, an increase that size works out to roughly $400 to $500 more next year.
And these totals understate the full cost increase, since many employers have made plans less generous to hold costs down. One common change is to raise deductibles, which shifts costs onto workers. Another is to cut back on what's covered. The share of large employers covering GLP-1s for obesity, for example, has fallen from 72% to 60%. Remove those changes, and the consulting firms estimate costs would have climbed another one to three percentage points.
If you’re on Medicaid
Most of those people should not lose coverage. The evidence suggests they will meet the criteria and lose coverage anyway because of the paperwork burden. When Arkansas imposed a work requirement in 2018, employment did not change. Instead, more than 18,000 people lost coverage within seven months, even though 95% either met the requirement or qualified for an exemption.
All of this means we are in the middle of the great healthcare cost hike. In January, after-subsidy premiums on the Marketplaces rose 114%. This fall, we expect the 160 million people who get insurance at work will see the largest increase in a generation. Next January, work-reporting requirements will start pushing millions of people off Medicaid. These shocks will strain family budgets.
They will also create a generational opportunity for reform. The best thing we can do is seize it.
Hence then, the article about the great healthcare cost hike is here was published today ( ) and is available on Time ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Great Healthcare Cost Hike Is Here )
Also on site :
- Andrea Bocelli and Ludacris Are Ringing in 2027 at the Same Tropical Destination, and It’s Not Where You’d Expect
- Hotel workers from 6 major Chicago hotels go on strike as Chicago Marathon weekend begins
- New Avatar Animated Series About Teen Kuruk Ordered At Paramount+, Seven Havens Scores Double Renewal