Health benefit cost increases expected to hit 15

Dive Brief:

The cost of health benefits per employee could climb an average of 6.5% next year — the highest increase since 2010, according to preliminary results from Mercer’s 2025 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans , released Sept. 4.

The record increase comes even after employers calculated in planned cost-reduction efforts, Mercer said. Had they not made any changes to their plans, the average increase would have been closer to 9%.

2026 will mark the fourth consecutive year of higher health benefit cost growth; for the previous decade annual increases were around 3%, Mercer said. The outsized increases signal “mounting pressure on employers’ healthcare budgets.”

Dive Insight:

“Health benefit cost trend has two primary components — healthcare price and utilization.