Why Health Insurance Premiums Continue to Skyrocket

Across the country, people are experiencing sticker shock when they open their annual insurance rate notices and discover their 2026 premium increases. People with employer-sponsored health coverage and those who buy a plan in the individual or small-group insurance market are getting hit especially hard, at a time when working families are already struggling under the burden of high costs for health care, groceries and other basic necessities. On average, health insurance rates will be 26% higher in the individual insurance markets than last year.

Families USA reviewed insurers' 2026 rate filings to understand the key drivers of high and rising health insurance premiums for people seeking to enroll in the ACA's individual and small-group health insurance coverage for plan year 2026.