Posted on 09/10/2025 7:17:53 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Health insurance prices in the U.S. have been spiraling for four consecutive years, and employers are now bracing for the highest spike yet in 2025—the biggest increase in 15 years, according to a wide-ranging survey of more than 1,700 employers.
The National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans by Mercer, a subsidiary of Marsh McLennan, is part of the advisory firm’s services to help employers manage health insurance costs while seeking to improve employee health and well-being.
Sunit Patel, Mercer’s US Chief Actuary for Health and Benefits, said two factors are combining to send costs higher. “Health benefit cost trend has two primary components — healthcare price and utilization. Right now, both are rising.”
The survey projects that total health benefit costs per employee will increase by 6.5% in 2026, even with planned cost-reduction measures, the highest jump since 2010. If employers left current plans unchanged, the increase would approach an alarming 9%, underscoring the relentless pressure on employer healthcare budgets. This upcoming surge marks the fourth straight year of elevated health benefit cost growth, according to Mercer, breaking from a decade of more modest annual increases of about 3%.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
“We have willfully and intentionally, as a nation, ignored this issue for the last decade and we are now facing the destruction of our economy, our markets, our government, our society and our way of life if we do not put a stop to the pillaging of our economy and people NOW.”
The CERTAIN Destruction Of Our Nation, The Market Ticker, 2016-10-15
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=231561
Isn't that like the Hannah Montana Fan Club saying people should buy more jeans and denim tops covered with rhinestones?
I wish that I too could say that this is “unexpected”, but...
Thank god for the VA, eh?
““Health benefit cost trend has two primary components — healthcare price and utilization. Right now, both are rising.””
Wait a minute. What happened to the “Affordable Csre Act”? Hey Rat’ voters. Your Government thinks you’re stupid. And they’re right.
My insurance company keeps offering more and more useless “services” that I certainly do not want and will never use. They practically threatened us to send someone to make a “home health assessment.” I don’t want my insurance company in my home, I just want them to cover my medical bills.
It’s because free healthcare to the indigent and illegal aliens come first.
Utilization rates in my neck of the woods suck.
Nobody can afford to use their lousy insurance.
I call BS on the high utilization rate explanation without the data to prove it.
During Covid hundreds of $ billions were wastefully pushed thru the healthcare system. Along with all the other health care subsidies, this was inflationary.
Our health insurance based system is inefficient and wasteful. It is not Free Market Capitalism.
Under the welfare system, healthy people who make good life choices have to subsidize slobs with lifestyle-based diseases.
Me too. Anthem from the “Marketplace”.
Threatened if I didn’t have a yearly physical they would send someone along to my house. I already an appointment made and I ignored their warnings.
At $700 a month, $8000 deductible for myself, and $9000 OOP, it’s tough to schedule any appointment knowing I will owe my local corporate hospital group even more than the $20,000 I’m paying off from last year’s events. And hub’s $20,000 from ‘23.
They send someone around they will never come back again.
The mere discussion of the ACA and expectation that it would pass doubled my insurance costs that year (2009), and then the next (2010 when it passed) it went up by 50% more on top of that. Both times my copays went way up, coverage decreased significantly, and out of pocket max was substantially higher. I don’t think these schmucks have their facts straight, or are intentionally obfuscating the data points surrounding that decision. I know everyone’s healthcare insurance premiums and costs skyrocketed then and continued to ever since.
“COVID” cancer and cardio treatments are expensive.
Well, Gavin Newsom saw fit to extend free health care to illegals in the state of California - and he’ll certainly push for it nationally if he’s elected POTUS.
He said it would “only” cost between $3 and $6B - it’s cost so far $12B - and I think a lot more b/c the California government lies about everything.
Newsom, of course, blames Trump - says the “Trump Slump” caused the high numbers, instead of his own stupid policies.
I was amazed at high cost of “free” health care when I went on Medicare.
Insurance, in the form of the monster it has become since 1973, must be destroyed. We must go back to the system before federal interference. Catastrophic insurance for the most dire of situations...cash for all else.
Uh, could it be millions of border crossers being cared for at no cost to them? Thanks carmela.
I know of some salaries in healthcare network administrations and it’s disgusting what they make. Not talking CEO pay but HR personnel with completely useless jobs or at the very least jobs that should be 70k a year and are criminally out of proportion.
Engineered by the ACA.
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