Households that get health coverage through a job have mostly watched the past two years of insurance turmoil from the sidelines. That changes for 2027. Employers expect the cost of health benefits per employee to rise 8.2% next year, the largest jump since 2003, according to preliminary results from Mercer's national survey of employer health plans, based on early responses from more than 1,800 employers.
That figure already accounts for cuts employers plan to make. Without those changes, employers said current plans would cost about 11% more. Mercer found that 59% of employers plan cost-cutting changes for 2027, including plan design changes such as higher deductibles, and a separate Mercer survey found that about two-thirds of employers with 500 or more workers expect to raise the employee share of premiums.
