Employers expect their healthcare costs to increase a whopping 9% next year, which — if the forecast pans out — would represent the largest annual increase in more than a decade, according to a new survey from the Business Group on Health.

Spiking pharmacy spending is fueling much of the cost growth, as are rising incidences of chronic and complex conditions like cancer. Employers expect to lower the cost increase to 7.6% through plan design changes.

But “the story this year is perhaps more daunting and sobering than it has ever been,” Ellen Kelsay, the president and CEO of the BGH, said on a Tuesday call with press.

Employers already started 2025 off at a disadvantage after experiencing steep cost increases in 2023 and 2024. Those two years saw the highest back-to-back increases in hea

See Full Page