For many business executives, 2026 was expected to bring some relief from years of climbing healthcare costs. Unfortunately, the opposite is true, according to Mercer's 2025 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, which gathered insights from more than 1,700 US employers. The total health benefit cost per employee is projected to rise by an average of 6.5% in 2026. That is the steepest increase since 2010, even after factoring in planned cost-reduction efforts. Without those eff...
