Jonquilyn Hill

Yeah, we do.

And, you know, one thing that I didn't mention is that because we now spend so much on health care that it's

like 18% of our GDP, lots of people who would like to earn money are going into healthcare.

So we have people sort of encouraging possibly unneeded healthcare to make a profit.

So there's that piece of it also, in addition to the things that we should do and that end up costing us money.

Is there a difference in, you know, the rise in costs we're seeing for those of us who get employer-sponsored insurance versus those of us who get our insurance through the ACA marketplace?

There is.

And, you know, one of the reasons that in 2026 ACA premiums are rising is because of these additional subsidies that made it easier for people.

to get health insurance under the ACA, the expanded tax credits.

It basically doubled enrollment.

And insurers, seeing that those extra premiums were scheduled to end, said, well, a lot of people are going to no longer be able to afford their health insurance, so we're going to have to raise premiums on the theory that the sick people are going to hang on to their health insurance, and the healthier people are probably going to drop it if they see the prices go up.

So although everyone will be affected,

If people can no longer afford their coverage and go uninsured because like with the pandemic, they won't get medical care until they absolutely have to.

And then it's more expensive.

And then the cost of that care is going to have to get passed along to somebody.

Are employers absorbing some of these higher costs for people who get that employer sponsored insurance?

It depends.

You know, during times when it's hard to hire people and we have tight labor markets, employers try to absorb as much of the increases in health care spending as they can because they don't want to load more onto their workers and therefore make it harder to win new workers and retain old workers.

Right now, the labor market is not as strong as it has been and health care costs are going up.

So it's expected that a lot of employers are going to pass along a lot more costs to their workers.