Workers Face Open Enrollment Shock As Cost Increase Hits 24-Year High

Employee benefits consultancy Marsh, formerly Mercer, says “total health benefit cost per employee is expected to rise 8.2% on average in 2027 — the highest increase since 2003.” The company issued its annual employer-sponsored benefits report on Sept. 2, 2026

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Employers are projecting premium increases that will jump at least 8% for next year – more than double general inflation — and they’re planning to pass along a big chunk onto their workers, according to several health benefit reports out this month.

Take a report Tuesday from employee benefits consultancy Marsh, formerly Mercer, which said “total health benefit cost per employee is expected to rise 8.2% on average in 2027 — the highest increase since 2003.” The Marsh report follows a report last week from Business Group on Health that is projecting an employer healthcare cost trend that will rise at a median of 9.2% for the 2027 employee benefit year.

The total cost is the entire premium paid by employers, which almost always pass along the rate increase they get to their workers. Marsh said the cost of “their current plans would increase by 11%, on average, if they took no action to lower it.” The rate increases headed for employers next year follows a 6.7% increase this year, a 6% increase in 2025 and a 4.5% increase in 2024, Marsh figures show.

The premium and out-of-pocket costs for 2027 are the kind of figures employees who work at big companies will first see during open enrollment, the annual period of time when employers allow their workers to select, change or keep benefit plans for the following year. Depending on the company, open enrollment starts as early as this month and can run into November, benefits consultants say.

Benefit analysts are warning that employers are making big changes to their benefit plans to keep the rate increases from being worse than projected. Those measures include dropping coverage of expensive GLP-1 weight loss drugs and the traditional “plan design changes like higher deductibles that can increase members’ out-of-pocket costs,” Marsh said in its analysis.

“Few organizations can absorb health cost increases that outpace inflation without making difficult financial decisions,” said Marsh’s U.S. health and benefits leader, Simon Camaj, in a statement accompanying the report.

Marsh’s 2026 national survey of employer-sponsored benefits are based on responses from more than 1,800 employers, the company said.