As Employer Health Costs Rise, Worker Cancer Cases An Increasing Worry

Cancer is the top condition driving healthcare spending for the fifth year in a row, a new report from the Business Group on Health shows.

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Cancer cases are driving up employer healthcare premiums and have become the top concern of companies offering medical benefits to their workers.

A new report from the Business Group on Health shows “cancer is the top condition driving healthcare spending” for the fifth year in a row. The survey of 127 employer covering more than 11 million people around the world including 8.7 million in the U.S. said 70% of those responding said cancer was “their No, 1 cost driver in 2026, up from 58% in 2025,” the report said.

Overall, employers are projecting a healthcare cost trend that will rise at a median of 9.2% for the 2027 employee benefit year. With changes to benefit plans and related design changes, employer costs could rise 8%.

While many reports analyzing employer healthcare cost trends have focused on prescription spending and GLP-1 weight loss drugs in particular, the Business Group on Health report zeroes in on cancer as an emerging and widespread problem for companies offering health benefits. And it’s not just expensive prescription cancer treatments that are driving up overall cost, employers are telling the Business Group on Health.

“When we look at other data points in the survey, including 62% of employers expressing concerns about hospital costs and 58% expressing concerns about outpatient facility costs, on top of 12% pharmacy trend, we can surmise that cancer is escalating as it spans across all of that – most cancer cases means more surgeries, more outpatient infusion treatment, more pharmacy cost,” said Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of Business Group on Health.

The report comes as employers prepare to unveil their benefits to workers during open enrollment, the annual fall ritual that allows employees to pick or change benefit plans. Workers also get to see what costs are going to be out of their paychecks for next year.

“Fully 92% of employers categorized cancer as one of the top three conditions fueling costs,” Business Group on Health said in a statement accompanying the report. “While musculoskeletal (68%) and cardiovascular (37%) again ranked second and third, respectively, employers also identified maternity (21%), gastrointestinal (15%) and autoimmune (14%) conditions as emerging drivers. Treatment for many of these conditions often involve complex care and costly therapeutic approaches.”