Health insurers are earning sharply more in 2026 than they did a year ago, and employer health premiums are still rising faster than wages, according to company financial filings, state insurance regulators, and two benchmark employer surveys. But the numbers also show that much of the profit rebound is a recovery from an unusually poor 2025.

The KFF 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey, released October 22 and based on interviews with 1,937 public and private employers, found that average annual premiums for employer-sponsored family coverage reached $28,303, up 5% from 2025. According to KFF’s news release, workers’ average contribution toward family coverage rose faster, by 9%, to $7,471. Average single coverage rose 5% to $9,804.

Next year looks steeper. In its September 2 release, Marsh (formerly Mercer) projected, based on responses from more than 1,800 employers, that total health benefit cost per employee will rise 8.2% on average in 2027 even after planned cost-cutting changes. That would be the largest increase since 2003. Other consultants’ projections are in the same range: Aon has projected about 9.5%, and the Business Group on Health has projected a median 9.2% before employer plan changes, according to news coverage of those reports. The sponsored piece’s description of an 8% to 10% increase and the biggest jump in over two decades is consistent with these figures.

UnitedHealth Group’s third-quarter 2026 earnings release, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 13, reported net earnings of $4.11 billion, up from $2.35 billion in the same quarter of 2025. That is an increase of about 75%. Earnings from operations rose to $6.6 billion from $4.3 billion, while revenue was essentially flat at $112.7 billion. UnitedHealth’s net margin was 3.6%.

The comparison quarter was weak. UnitedHealth’s third-quarter 2025 profit of about $2.3 billion was down from $6.1 billion a year earlier, as Becker’s Payer Issues reported at the time. That means this year’s third-quarter profit, though sharply higher, remains below its 2024 level. Similarly, the company’s full-year 2025 results show net earnings of roughly $12.1 billion, as the sponsored piece states. That was a decline from $14.4 billion in 2024, which the piece does not mention, and it came with a 2.7% net margin and a $2.8 billion one-time charge.

The rebound is not unique to UnitedHealth. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ 2026 mid-year health industry report, which aggregates statutory filings from health insurers, found industry net income rose 127.6% to about $27.7 billion in the first half of 2026. The industry’s profit margin rose from 1.8% to 4.1%. The company’s SEC filing confirms that people served through Medicare Advantage and related programs fell by 935,000 since the end of 2025. The company had forecast this contraction and said it would focus on margins over enrollment.

What is driving the profit gains? UnitedHealth’s own release credits a lower medical care ratio, which fell to 88.4% from 89.9%, along with pricing discipline, benefit design changes, and lower operating costs. In other words, the company says it improved results partly by charging more relative to costs and by changing what its plans cover. The employer surveys, however, point to broader cost drivers. Marsh, for example, attributed about one percentage point of its 2027 projection to growing use of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, and news coverage of the survey also cited provider consolidation and costly new therapies.

Independent researchers have raised a related, narrower concern: that vertical integration can make insurer profitability harder to see. A Brookings Institution analysis found that about 63% of Optum Health’s 2025 revenue of $100.5 billion was paid by related UnitedHealth entities. The analysis noted that some observers see such arrangements as improving care coordination, while others say they create opportunities to shift profits out of the regulated insurance business. A separate study in Health Affairs, as reported by Healthcare Dive, found UnitedHealthcare paid Optum-affiliated providers 17% more than other providers. UnitedHealth has disputed that study and said it pays Optum in line with the market.

For employers, the takeaway is that the cost pressures are real and well documented, and 2027 renewals are likely to be the most expensive in two decades

2027 Employer Health Insurance Premiums to Increase 8.2%