Health care costs are soaring. Blame insurers, drug companies and your employer

"Some 154 million people get health insurance through their employer and many could see their paycheck deductions surge next year, by 6% to 7% on average. Some will likely also see their out-of-pocket costs rise as employers pass along the spiking costs of care. That's because employers will be paying a lot more almost 9% more per employee on average, for the same level of coverage to provide health benefits for their workers."

"Even after cutting or changing their health care benefits, employers are facing the biggest price increase in 15 years, according to a new survey of more than 1,700 organizations by Mercer, a benefits consultancy. And 59% of those employers told Mercer they plan to pass those higher prices along to their workers in the form of "cost-cutting changes," such as higher deductibles, copays or other out-of-pocket costs, such as prices for filling prescriptions."

""It's almost a perfect storm that's hitting employers right now," says Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a health policy research nonprofit. "The price of health care is going up faster than it has in a long time," he adds. "And typically when an employer is getting a big increase from an insurer, the employer is turning around and trying to pass on some or all of that to its workers.""

The United States has the most expensive health care in the developed world. About 154 million people receive employer-sponsored insurance. Employers face an average increase of nearly 9% per employee to provide the same level of coverage. Many workers could see paycheck deductions rise 6% to 7% and also confront higher out-of-pocket costs. A Mercer survey of over 1,700 organizations shows the largest employer price increase in 15 years. Fifty-nine percent of employers plan to pass higher costs to workers through higher deductibles, copays, or prescription prices. Rising benefit costs coincide with lingering pandemic-era inflation and new import taxes that are pushing prices upward.

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