US Family Health Premiums Hit $28,303 as Workers Pay 9% More

The average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health coverage in the US reached $28,303 in 2026, up 5% or $1,310 from 2025, according to KFF’s annual Employer Health Benefits Survey, published on 22 October 2026. Workers paid $7,471 of that on average, up 9% or $621, the health policy research group said.

Over the same year, workers’ wages rose 3.7% and general inflation 2.7%, KFF reports. The survey, its 28th, is based on interviews with 1,937 non-federal public and private firms with at least ten workers, conducted from January to July 2026.

Business Pill · TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

A short Business Engineer explainer on total cost of ownership: why the sticker price is not the whole cost. It teaches the general idea only and says nothing about health insurance or this survey.

What the Survey Shows

The average premium for single coverage was $9,804, also up 5%, KFF reports. Covered workers contributed 27% of the premium for family coverage and 18% for single coverage on average, similar to 2025. By our arithmetic, employers paid about $20,832 of the average family premium.

Workers at small firms carry more of the cost, the survey finds. On average, covered workers at firms with fewer than 200 workers contributed $9,687 a year toward family coverage, $2,847 more than workers at larger firms, according to KFF. The average deductible for single coverage was $1,955, against $1,886 in 2025, and $2,624 at small firms against $1,772 at larger ones.

Among firms with 200 or more workers, 44% said they increased the share of the premium workers pay to address higher projected health costs, and 21% said they raised deductibles or other cost-sharing for most services, KFF reports.

What Was Posted on X

The Kobeissi Letter posted on 24 October that the average US family health premium rose to a record $28,303, up $1,303 in a year, and set the longer-run rise against CPI inflation. The piece uses KFF’s own figures where they differ: KFF gives the one-year rise as $1,310 and puts the five-year rise at 28% against inflation of 24%.

The Longer Run

The average family premium has risen 28% since 2021 and 55% since 2016, according to the survey. KFF’s news release says that since 2021 family premiums and workers’ contributions have risen at similar rates, 28% and 26%, and are comparable to the increase in wages, 27%, and inflation, 24%, over the same period.

KFF President and CEO Drew Altman tied the figures to voters’ concerns: “Now add a 9% increase in what workers with employer coverage paid toward family premiums in 2026 to the reasons voters are so concerned about their health care costs,” he said in the release.

The Figures

From KFF’s 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey, published 22 October 2026. The employers’ share is our arithmetic. Premiums are averages for covered workers at firms with ten or more workers.

What the Post Adds

The survey reached us through a post on X by The Kobeissi Letter, which put the rise at “+$1,303 YoY”; KFF’s release gives $1,310. The post also says premiums rose 26% over a period in which CPI inflation rose 13%, which does not match KFF’s own five-year comparison of 28% for premiums and 24% for inflation. Its longer-run figures, including a rise of 387% since 1999, are the post’s; we did not find them in the KFF texts we read.

Connecting the Coverage

Our Cook piece reported Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook’s view, from a speech on 28 September 2026, that AI is adding inflationary pressure in the short term and delaying the Fed’s return to its 2% target. Our Barr piece reported Governor Michael Barr naming the AI build-out as one factor among several, alongside the pandemic, Russia’s war on Ukraine, tariff increases and energy prices, in a speech on 29 September 2026.

What’s new here: KFF’s survey puts the year’s rise in family premiums at 5% and in workers’ contributions at 9%, against inflation of 2.7%.

The Structural Read

As we read it, employers are passing more of the cost on: KFF reports that 44% of firms with 200 or more workers raised the share of the premium workers pay, and 21% raised deductibles or other cost-sharing.

As we read it, the five-year picture is less stark than the one-year one: KFF says that since 2021 family premiums rose 28%, workers’ contributions 26%, wages 27% and inflation 24%.

As we read it, size matters for who carries the bill: KFF reports workers at firms with fewer than 200 workers contributed $9,687 toward family cover, $2,847 more than at larger firms.

Three Implications

FOR WORKERS KFF reports covered workers paid $7,471 toward family coverage on average in 2026, up $621 from 2025.

FOR EMPLOYERS By our arithmetic, employers paid about $20,832 of the average $28,303 family premium, and KFF reports most large firms took steps to shift costs to workers.

FOR SMALL FIRMS KFF reports average single-coverage deductibles of $2,624 at small firms against $1,772 at larger ones.

What Is Not Established

KFF’s figures are averages for covered workers at firms with at least ten workers; they do not describe people buying insurance on their own or through public programmes. The survey does not attribute the rise to any single cause in the passages we read, and KFF notes that inflation has been higher in recent months than the year-on-year figure it uses. The employers’ share is our arithmetic, not a KFF figure.

The Bottom Line

The average US family health premium reached $28,303 in 2026, up 5% or $1,310, and workers’ share rose 9% to $7,471, while wages rose 3.7% and inflation 2.7%, according to KFF’s 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey.