Rising Healthcare Costs Present A Looming Crisis To U.S. Employers And TO Americans With Health Coverage Through Work

An informative article published in Politico on November 20, 2025, highlighted the challenges Employers and Employees are facing in 2026 (and beyond) regarding affordability of the health insurance currently covering nearly 165 million people. Employers are expecting a 6.7% jump in health costs in 2026 (!) – this cost is likely to be passed on to employees. The same employers are expected to raise the wages by 3.1% in 2026, which means “a sizable portion of many employees’ pay increase will go toward covering rising insurance premiums”.

You get the picture of ongoing hardships in this space. The problem of of employer-based health insurance in not a novelty and has been recognized for many years. In fact, based on such recognition, multiple attempts have been made to combat this beast of a problem. The most notable effort illustrating the complexity of the issue on hand was put forth by a powerful trio of “whales” Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon and Jeff Bezos – the three combined their infinite resources to create a joint independent company (Haven; 2018-2021) to tackle rising healthcare cost. The creation of Haven drew massive attention because of the founders’ affluence and the scale of their combined workforces of over one million employees(!). Haven aimed to:

·         Reduce healthcare costs

·         Improve access and quality of care

·         Simplify insurance and care delivery

·         Focus on employer-based healthcare innovation

Sounds familiar (and noble)? It sure does because it closely mirrors the famed Triple Aim term coined by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement in 2008.

None less than Dr. Atul Gawande himself - an once Surgeon General - was appointed as Haven’s CEO in 2018.

Well, in 2021 the company announced it would shut down – it was stated that “while Haven generated valuable insights, it had not achieved the transformative impact initially hoped for”. Mr. Buffett was blunter in his assessment “we were fighting a tapeworm in the American economy and the tapeworm won”.

So, do employers give up their attempts to bend the cost curve? Not at all – do not despair!  As an old proverb goes (paraphrasing) “one cannot prevent birds from flying over one’s head but he/she can prevent them from building nest in one’s hair”. Although it is clear that macro-changes are necessary to finally address the deep roots of the rising healthcare costs many micro-interventions can help at the local business level.

One workplace innovation that had proven to be beneficial is the onsite or near-site employer-based clinic. In a nutshell, such clinic ensures the right care is delivered at the right time at the right place.

We Val Akopov, MD, MBA, MHA and Elizabeth Papetti, MBA, FHM have stood up and run employer-based clinics within a large health system, poultry plant, and a large municipality. This care model works in any industry and yields similar positive outcomes of high quality and more cost-effective care, high team members’ satisfaction, improved employer’s competitiveness, and lower job absenteeism.

Vantage Clinical Partners can walk you through What and How!

Val Akopov, MD MBA MHA

Principal & Chief Clinical Officer

Politico. (2025, November 20). Insurance premiums for employer coverage rise, squeezing affordability.