Health care workers struggle with their own care

Some health care workers are putting off checkups, dropping benefits, or going without insurance entirely because they cannot afford rising premiums.

Independent practices face a squeeze

Medical practices must decide how much of rising insurance costs to absorb themselves and how much to pass to employees. Jack Dillon, executive director of the Association for Independent Medicine, said his own practice faced a twenty two point five percent increase.

“It's a bigger struggle this year that I've heard than in previous years, and it's getting louder and louder.”

Costs jump the most since two thousand three

Health benefit costs per employee are expected to jump eight point two percent in twenty twenty-seven, the steepest increase since two thousand three and the fifth consecutive year of elevated growth, according to a Mercer survey of one thousand eight hundred employers.

Two-thirds of large companies raising worker premiums

Two-thirds of companies with at least five hundred employees plan to raise workers' share of premiums. Nick Stefanizzi, CEO of Northwell Direct, said rising costs eat into money that could be invested in wages.

“The reality is this does eat into money that could be invested in wages.”

Idaho nurse practitioner cuts her own care

Samantha LeGault, an Idaho nurse practitioner, saw her family's monthly premium rise from seven hundred to one thousand five hundred dollars this year. She dropped her own dental coverage to prioritize her children's dental appointments.

“I know how the clinics work, that I am an expensive patient.”

Idaho doctors drop coverage entirely

Joshua and Ashley Durham, who run a family practice in Idaho, dropped health coverage for themselves and their two children after premiums climbed to nearly one thousand six hundred dollars a month. They pay for care out of pocket using a health savings account.

Nurses working extra shifts to pay for insurance

About fifteen percent of nurses reported holding more than one job in the two thousand twenty-four National Nursing Workforce Study. Roughly forty-two percent of working nurses said they worked more than forty hours a week, with the most common reason being the need for more income.

Rising costs threaten patient care and safety

The American Nurses Association warned that nurses compelled to add shifts to keep pace with premiums experience greater fatigue, stress, and burnout. ANA President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy said rising costs are a workforce, patient-care, and patient-safety issue.

“Rising health insurance costs are more than a household budget concern for healthcare workers. They are a workforce, patient-care, and patient-safety issue.”