Health Costs Jumping 18% For Small And Medium-Sized Businesses

InnovationHealthcareHealth Costs Jumping 18% For Small And Medium-Sized BusinessesByBruce Japsen,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Bruce Japsen writes about healthcare business and policy.Follow AuthorJun 03, 2026, 03:14pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Stethoscope on the dollars. Medical costs. Healthcare payment concept. Concept of analysis of the market and economy and interest ratesgettyHealthcare costs are rising nearly 20% for small-and mid-sized employers as employers grapple with a surge in inflation and medical expenses, in particular, a new report shows. The analysis by Morgan Health, a business unit of the banking giant JP Morgan, released Wednesday shows how healthcare costs disproportionately impact smaller businesses. Several analyses out this year of health insurance for larger employers show their costs rising 8-10% this year. “Nearly one-third (30%) of small and medium-sized businesses) with fewer than 50 employees report that health insurance costs are worsening their business situation, compared to 22% of larger small-and mid-sized businesses,” the Morgan Health report showed. "Smaller firms are less likely to take action to offset rising costs, often because they are not required to offer coverage and may drop it altogether.The Morgan Health survey of more than 1,000 U.S. small-and mid-sized businesses comes from a sample “evenly split between employers with 1–49 employees and those with 50–499 employees,” the company said. “Respondents held leadership, HR, finance or operations roles.”Here are other highlights of the report: Small- and medium-sized businesses “struggle with unclear health insurance information, driving interest in digital and artificial intelligence tools. 89% would invest time to learn new tools if they made plan selection easier, and 75% believe AI-enabled tools could reduce rel...