US employers’ health insurance contributions rose 6.4% — Fortune
In the United States, employers’ contributions to health insurance rose by 6.4% year on year, marking the fastest pace in two decades. In the third quarter, employees’ wages and salaries increased by 3.1% compared with the same period last year, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Cost Index, as reported by Fortune.
Impact on wage growth
Guy Berger, a senior fellow at the Burning Glass Institute, noted that employers’ health insurance contributions rose by 6.4%. According to his calculations, if they had increased at the 3% rate seen several years ago, the current pace of wage growth would have been 0.2–0.3 percentage points higher.
Berger also believes that these data may not fully reflect the pressure on employees. Employer contributions may not be keeping pace with the overall cost of health insurance, meaning employees pay a larger share of insurance premiums. In addition, the insurance plans themselves, he said, cover fewer costs, increasing insured people’s out-of-pocket spending on medical services.
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Rising ACA plan costs
Rising insurance costs also affect Americans who buy policies through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. According to an estimate by the nonprofit research organization KFF, premiums for such plans will increase by 13% in 2027. This will be the second-largest increase since 2018, after a 26% jump in 2026.
The average monthly premium for a 40-year-old person for a basic mid-level plan in 2027 will be $704. In 2026, it was $624, and in 2025 it was $497.
Decline in insurance coverage
KFF links the strain on the ACA market to the expiration of enhanced subsidies introduced during the pandemic and not extended by Congress. As of February, the number of ACA plan enrollees fell by 12% year on year, to approximately 19.2 million people. At the end of October, KFF recorded 31 cases of insurers leaving state markets, compared with eight new entries.
