Health Care Cost Anxiety Hits Record Levels Heading into the New Year

To the backdrop of the soaring health care costs that have been prevalent throughout 2025, a record number of Americans are anxious about affording health care going into the new year.

Nearly half of U.S. residents (47%) said they’re worried they won’t be able to afford necessary health care in the coming year, according to a new West Health-Gallup survey — the highest level since the groups started tracking in 2021. And 15% of adults said that health care costs cause “a lot of stress” in their daily lives — nearly double the 8% who said so in 2022, the survey found.

The annual survey, conducted in June through August, was based on roughly 20,000 respondents across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and asked 27 questions about people’s health care experiences.

Prescription drug costs are also a big concern, with 37% saying they are stressed about costs for their medications. Meanwhile, roughly 1 in 3 adults reported delaying or skipping medical care over the last year because they couldn’t afford it.

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Growing Concern

The data indicating growing anxiety over health care costs isn’t an isolated finding: Various surveys have found that health care costs are causing unease for both employees and employers, including a survey from Principal Financial Group which found that the cost of health care remains the number one concern for employers. Research from Mercer found that 28% of those with household incomes at or below the median were not confident they could afford necessary health care.

"It's definitely a concern," Kimberly Landry, associate research director at LIMRA, an insurance industry trade association based in Windsor, Conn., said last month of growing health care costs. "We had a couple years where the health care cost trend wasn't as high, and now it's shooting up again. It's clearly a huge challenge for employers and employees."

Many Americans are facing even more of a crunch because a growing number of employers are raising deductibles or making other changes that shift more responsibility for health care cost to employees.

“Uncertainty around future trends in employer costs remains high, particularly as they relate to rising health care costs,” Andrea Medici, labor economist at SHRM, said recently. “The interplay between slowing wage growth and rising health care expenses presents a nuanced outlook for employers. Employers should monitor these trends closely to balance competitive compensation packages with long-term cost sustainability.”

Rising Costs

The anxiety comes amid data finding that health care costs have grown considerably for both employers and employees in 2025. The average cost of employer-sponsored health insurance climbed to $17,496 in 2025, up 6% from the year before and well above inflation and wage growth, according to Mercer’s recent 2025 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans. Kaiser Family Foundation found that premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage hit nearly $27,000 a year in 2025, with workers contributing $6,850 toward the cost.

And 2026 looks to be on a similar, if not worse, trajectory: Health costs are projected to jump another 6.7% in 2026, rising to $18,500 per worker on average, Mercer found. The growing costs are resulting in an “affordability crunch” for employers and employees, Mercer analysts said, and may be the biggest hike in 15 years. Meanwhile, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, a nonprofit organization based in Brookfield, Wis., with 31,000 employer members, recently found that organizations are projecting a 10% hike in health care costs in 2026. 

And while this year has been tough for health care costs, 2026 “may be even more challenging from a cost perspective,” said Ed Lehman, Mercer’s U.S. health and benefits leader.