Getting family health insurance through a job in America now costs roughly the same as buying a brand-new car every single year. And the car keeps getting bigger. That is the central finding of STAT health journalist Bob Herman's new series "Out of Pocket, Out of Reach" — a portrait of an employer-based insurance system that, by his account, is "crumbling" under the weight of prices no other industrialized country would tolerate.
Sitting across from Herman on The Readout Loud was Chris Deacon, an attorney and former health-benefits director for New Jersey state workers who became one of the most prominent whistleblowers in the employer-insurance world. Her message to the thousands of business owners and benefits managers who will soon face 2027 renewal rates: you have more power than you think, and you are not using it.
"It is much easier to sit back and say, 'Look to my left, look to my right. All businesses in our industry are facing double-digit rate increases. What makes us any different?'" Deacon said. But that instinct to accept the status quo is precisely what the industry counts on.
"The complexity and the confusion that it causes is an asset for the industry that benefits from those increasing costs," she noted. "And it's a massive asset."
Herman's reporting makes the affordability crisis visceral. Premiums have been rising at multiples of wage growth and inflation for years. The problem, he argued, is not any single...
Footage widely circulated online led to the spread of misinformation after a family of holidaymakers visited the site from London. A family-run holiday park has found itself the target of online ab...