Health insurance premiums are climbing again. Healthinsurance.org says the median proposed increase for individual-market plans in 2027 is roughly 15% before subsidies, and rates have already been finalized in about half of U.S. states.
Coverage is also getting costlier for employers. More than 165 million Americans get insurance through an employer, and Mercer expects healthcare costs per employee to rise 8.2% next year. Fortune reported that two-thirds of companies with 500 or more employees plan to raise premiums.
Here are three quiet ways those higher healthcare costs could affect your finances in 2027.
Your Take-Home Pay Could Fall
Workers usually pay their share of health insurance premiums through payroll deductions. That means higher premiums can reduce take-home pay even when gross pay does not change. Fortune said employees with family coverage were contributing an average of about $6,850 toward premiums in 2025.
Marsh, which is Mercer’s parent company, found that many employees could see paycheck deductions for health coverage rise by more than the 8.2% estimate in 2027.
In its survey, Marsh also said many employers are trying to contain costs without passing the full increase on to workers. Options include lower-cost plans and variable copay plans, which often have no deductible or a low deductible and charge less when members choose preferred providers for certain services.
Your Medical Bills Could Rise Out of Pocket
Beyond higher premiums, employers may also raise deductibles and copays, which can leave you paying more when you need care.
A deductible is the amount you must pay before insurance starts covering costs, while a copay is a fixed charge for certain services such as an annual checkup or a prescription.
Fortune reported that nearly half of the employers surveyed by Mercer plan changes to existing medical plans that would increase employee costs in 2027, including higher deductibles and copays.
A larger deductible can make healthcare spending harder to anticipate. Premiums and copays are fixed, but if you face a medical emergency, you could owe hundreds or even thousands of dollars before your plan pays more.
Your Pay Raises Could Be Smaller
Navin Nagiah, CEO of healthcare technology company Daffodil Health, told Fortune that employers have a limited amount they can spend on each employee, including salary, healthcare, and other benefits.
If more of that money goes to healthcare, wage growth could slow.
The Congressional Budget Office treats employer health insurance contributions as a substitute for cash wages when measuring household income. A CBO analysis cited by Fortune found that salaries accounted for about 91% of total worker compensation in 1960, compared with an average of 82% over the past decade.
The CBO also expects healthcare insurance costs to slightly outpace wages over the next 30 years.
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