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  1. Insurance
  2. Health Insurance

‘Calm Before the Storm’: Why Health Insurance Premiums Could Balloon in 2023

By: Adam Hardy
Adam Hardy, expert in Personal finance, student loans, credit, job market, low-income finances, and Lead data journalist at Money
Adam Hardy
Lead data journalist | Joined May 2024
Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and many other outlets.
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Editor: Brad Tuttle
Brad Tuttle, expert in Personal finance, shopping, consumer trends, and Senior Editor at Money
Brad Tuttle
Senior Editor | Joined January 2014
Brad Tuttle is a senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.
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Published: Oct 28, 2022 5 min read
Doctor Talking with Teenage Girl
Money; Getty Images

Health insurance premiums for America's workers are primed for a big jump in 2023 after largely plateauing this year.

For families who get health insurance through their employer, annual out-of-pocket costs for premiums ran an average of $6,106 this year, or an approximate 2% increase from $5,969 in 2021, according to a new study released Thursday by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). For singles, out-of-pocket spending on premiums rose from $1,299 in 2021 to $1,327 this year, another increase of about 2%.

Out-of-pocket costs represent only a fraction of the overall cost of premiums. Employers typically cover the majority, and workers pick up the rest. The total cost of premiums — including both shares — rose only 1% last year to an average of $22,463, according to KFF’s survey, which polled nearly 2,200 non-federal public and private employers.

All said, these increases are historically low, and they seem tiny compared to the overall inflation rate for the 12-month period ending in September, 8.2%. Unfortunately, workers can expect much bigger health insurance price hikes coming soon.