(NewsNation) — If you’ve thought your health insurance bill is a lot higher later, you’re not wrong.
A new survey from KFF found the average cost of a family health insurance plan offered through employers increased 6% from last year to $26,993. By comparison, KFF found that wages grew 4%, and inflation is up 2.7%.
Others have also predicted a hike in monthly premiums for 2026. Consulting firm Mercer released a report in September showing that working-age Americans who get health insurance from their workplace are likely to see an increase from 6% to 7% on their premiums, which is the steepest increase since 2010.
The increase in premiums is mainly being driven by increased spending on health care. KFF said employers are singling out drug prices like GLP-1s as a factor contributing to higher premiums in recent years and called it a “quiet alarm bell.”
“Employers have nothing new in their arsenal that can address most of the drivers of their cost increases, and that could well result in an increase in deductibles and other forms of employee cost sharing again, a strategy that neither employers nor employees like but companies resort to in a pinch to hold down premium increases,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement.
On NewsNation’s partner The Hill’s Raising America podcast, Elizabeth Prann spoke with CEO of CareYaya Neal Shah about what families need to know as they sign up for health insurance during open enrollment season and how to avoid coverage denials.