Health Insurance Costs Rising Faster Than Workers’ Wages

Health insurance costs rising faster than workers’ wages

Health insurance premiums have grown at nearly triple the pace of U.S. worker earnings over the past 25 years, putting added pressure on household budgets.

The amount workers and employers pay toward health coverage has surged, while employee wages have grown far more slowly, according to a new study published Dec. 8 in JAMA Network Open. 

From 1994 to 2024, total premiums increased 342% and worker contributions rose 308%, researchers found. During the same period, worker earnings grew only about 120%.

Despite falling inpatient admissions, prices at U.S. hospitals rose faster than other medical prices over the study period, a trend the authors suggested may be contributing to the rising insurance premiums. Growth in hospital prices outpaced increases in prescription drugs, professional services and insurance premiums.

Health insurance prices were especially unstable during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing at high rates before stabilizing more recently. Researchers said the swings likely reflect changes in health care use during the pandemic, such as fewer clinician visits.

In 2025, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health insurance was close to $27,000, a 6% increase from last year, according to an October analysis from KFF. Workers paid about $6,900 of that total and employers picked up the rest. The average annual deductible for workers was about $1,900 this year.

Study links PFAS in drinking water to pregnancy risks

Exposure to “forever chemicals” in drinking water can raise health dangers during pregnancy, including risks for preterm birth and infant death, new research finds. 

Published Dec. 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study found that pregnant women whose drinking water came from wells affected by PFAS contamination experienced worse birth outcomes than those whose water came from uncontaminated sources.

Researchers compared data on women receiving water from groundwater wells located downstream of PFAS-contaminated sites with women whose wells were upstream. Babies born to women exposed to contaminated water were more likely to be born preterm and to die during the first year of life.

The increase in early births included more deliveries before 28 weeks of pregnancy. The study also found higher rates of low birthweight, including more babies that weighed less than 5.5 pounds at birth.

Based on their findings, researchers estimated that PFAS contamination during pregnancy costs the U.S. at least $8 billion annually, encompassing medical care, long-term health impacts and reduced lifetime earnings for affected babies.

About 165 million people across the U.S. are estimated to consume drinking water that is contaminated by PFAS, according to the Environmental Working Group. People who live near common sources of PFAS contamination — such as military bases, airports and industrial areas — are at higher risk for exposure.

PFAS, which are used for their grease- and heat-resistant properties, are referred to as forever chemicals because they do not break down in the human body or environment. 

Raising Medicare eligibility age would leave more older adults uninsured

Raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67 would leave a half million U.S. older adults without health coverage, according to a new brief from the Urban Institute. 

Released Dec. 5, the analysis found the policy change would reduce Medicare enrollment while increasing reliance on employer plans, Medicaid and the federal health insurance marketplace.

Concerns about Medicare’s long-term finances — and growing budget deficits — have renewed interest in proposals to raise the program’s eligibility age. One option would increase eligibility from 65 to 67, matching Social Security’s full retirement age.

If that change were made, Medicare coverage would decline by 5.4 million people, the brief estimates. About 1.5 million people would remain covered by Medicare because they would qualify through disability. 

While about 100,000 older adults ages 65 and 66 are uninsured under current law, that number would increase fivefold, with 6% of the age group lacking coverage. About 1 million people would also shift into Medicaid.

At the same time, coverage beyond Medicare would rise sharply. The number of people ages 65 and 66 with non-Medicare coverage would increase from 1.2 million to 6.2 million. Most of that increase — 2.7 million people — would come from employer-sponsored insurance.

U.S. adults spend more on health care than younger adults, and companies with a larger share of older workers tend to have higher health plan premiums and contributions, past research shows. That could mean increased overall costs for employers.

Other recent public health news of note includes:

• People who live in neighborhoods with more climate-related stressors — such as extreme heat, storms and pollution — are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes, a new study finds. Researchers looked at data over seven years, finding people in areas with more of the stressors had a 23% higher risk of developing the disease than those in less vulnerable neighborhoods, according to the research in JAMA Network Open.

• Oil, gas and coal facilities release an estimated 8.3 million tons of methane each year, according to a new study published in Science. The research, which was based on high-resolution satellite data, found that methane emissions from oil and gas sites around the world fluctuate far more than emissions from coal facilities, making them harder to detect and measure without repeated observations.

• Massachusetts health officials issued a safety alert December 9 following the state’s first confirmed case of silicosis in a worker in the stone countertop fabrication industry. Cutting, polishing and grinding stone can generate harmful silica dust, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health warned, urging employers to strengthen controls such as dust suppression, respiratory protection and health surveillance to prevent exposure.

• Hospitals in states with strict abortion bans were more likely to violate federal protections for life-saving care of women during pregnancy-related emergencies, a new study in JAMA Health Forum finds. Although U.S. law requires hospitals to provide needed emergency treatment, researchers found that states with restrictive abortion laws that do not allow health exceptions may interfere with timely care of pregnant women during emergencies.

The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.