Health Care is Now Employees’ Top Financial Concern

Employees have a lot of competing financial priorities and concerns these days, as evidenced by data that finds financial stress is the highest it’s been in years.

But there’s no greater money stressor for employees than health care costs, a new survey found.

Two-thirds of Americans say they are very or somewhat worried about affording health care, outranking concerns about paying for food and groceries, housing costs, utilities, and transportation costs, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll of 1,426 adults in January. More than half of respondents reported a rise in their health insurance rates in the past year and an expectation for them to continue rising in the coming year. And 1 in 5 respondents said their health care costs were rising faster than the prices of their food and utilities, KFF found.

That data tracks with findings at the end of last year from a West Health-Gallup survey that showed a record number of Americans were anxious about affording health care going into the new year. And it comes as financial stress — lifted by growing health costs — hits a new high. Roughly one-third of Americans think their personal finances will worsen in 2026, according to Bankrate’s recent Financial Outlook Survey. That’s the highest level of pessimism since 2018.

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Growing Health Care Costs

Health costs are projected to jump another 6.7% in 2026, rising to $18,500 per worker on average, consulting firm 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, found that organizations are projecting a 10% hike in health care costs in 2026.

“It’s definitely a concern,” Kimberly Landry, associate research director at LIMRA, an insurance industry trade association based in Windsor, Conn., said recently 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.”

Adding to employees’ concerns is that more employers are considering shifting more costs to employees by raising deductibles, copays, premiums, or out-of-pocket maximums. Last year, roughly half of large employers (51%) — defined as organizations with 500 or more employees — said they are likely or very likely to make design changes to their benefits plans in 2026 that would shift more costs to employees, such as raising deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums, Mercer found. 

Prescription drug costs are one of U.S. residents’ top health care affordability concerns, according to KFF.

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Employers are paying attention, experts said. “We’re hearing loud and clear that controlling health care costs is now the top benefits priority, even above productivity or retention,” said Todd Katz, head of group benefits at MetLife in New York City. “But employers also know that pulling back too much creates new problems.” 

Employers will likely turn to strategies including narrow networks, utilization management, promoting preventive care, and more. Organizations will also want to beef up health care and benefits communication to ease concerns among employees and help them understand any changes — including cost changes — to their benefits.

“Employers will want to be transparent with participants about changes they make to their health plans and why,” said Megan Yost, senior vice president of thought leadership and insights at Segal, a New York City-based HR and benefits consulting firm.