Single health coverage through an employer cost an average of $9,804 this year, and the covered worker paid an average of $1,672 of it, according to KFF’s 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey. The nonprofit’s survey, published October 22, also puts the average single deductible at $1,955 for workers in plans that have one. Both premium figures rose about 5% over 2025.
How the $9,804 splits between employer and worker
KFF’s average annual premium for single coverage is $9,804, and workers contribute 18% of it, which is the $1,672. The employer picks up the rest. For family coverage the premium averages $28,303, up 5% from 2025 and the worker’s share is $7,471, or about 27%, a contribution KFF says rose 9%, or $621, over the year.
KFF President and CEO Drew Altman put the family figure in a political frame in the survey’s release. He said the 9% jump in what workers paid toward family premiums in 2026 adds to the reasons voters are worried about health care costs, coming after months of talk about Affordable Care Act and Medicaid cuts.
The averages hide a wide spread. Premiums run highest in the Northeast, at $10,806 for single coverage and $31,378 for family, and lowest in the South, at $9,272 and $26,702. Small employers and large ones look alike on single premiums, at $9,593 for firms with 10 to 199 workers and $9,865 for larger firms.
Where a worker’s employer sits changes how much of that lands on the paycheck. KFF finds 29% of covered workers at the smaller firms have an employer that pays the entire single premium, against 5% at larger firms. The mix cuts the other way for families, where workers at smaller firms pay a larger share.
The deductible that comes before most plan payments
The $1,955 deductible, up from $1,886 in 2025, is an average among covered workers in plans that carry a general annual deductible, which KFF defines as one that must be met before the plan pays for most services. Some 88% of workers with single coverage are in such a plan, the same share as last year. Workers without one are outside that average.
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Deductibles are climbing at the top end. KFF reports that 38% of covered workers have a single deductible of $2,000 or more, up from 34% a year ago. Smaller firms average $2,624, while larger firms average $1,772, so the same worker can face a gap of more than $800 depending on the size of the employer.
Add the two averages and they come to $3,627, the $1,672 premium share plus a $1,955 deductible. No one worker is average on both, and the deductible applies only to those in plans that have one. The sum is a yardstick for the point where the plan starts paying, not a prediction of any household’s bill.
What the plan still charges after the deductible
Almost every covered worker also has an annual out-of-pocket maximum, but the limits vary widely. KFF says 14% of workers are in single-coverage plans with a limit of $2,000 or less, while 24% are in plans with a limit above $6,000. The ceiling matters most in a year with a hospital stay or surgery.
Visit-level charges look steadier. The average primary care copayment is $27 and the average specialist copayment is $46, both similar to last year. Where a plan uses coinsurance instead, it averages 20% for both primary care and specialist visits, so a $300 specialist bill would leave the patient owing about $60 once the deductible has been met.
Employers keep offering coverage, and shifting cost
KFF finds 67% of firms with 10 or more workers offer health benefits, up from 61% in 2025. Offer rates are near universal at large employers, with 98% of firms with 200 to 999 workers offering coverage and more than 99% of those with 1,000 or more. Coverage remains the norm for large workforces.
Costs are moving toward workers over time. Family premiums have risen 28% over five years, KFF says, compared with 26.9% for wages and 24.4% for inflation. Among all firms, 18% responded to rising costs by raising the share of premium workers pay, including 66% of firms with 5,000 or more employees.
The numbers come from interviews with 1,937 non-federal public and private firms with 10 or more workers, conducted by Davis Research from January through July 2026. KFF reports an 11% response rate. The figures describe averages across employers for the 2026 plan year, not what any one employer charges, and not the 2027 premiums that open enrollment will bring.
For a worker looking at an open-enrollment sheet, the question is how a plan compares with those averages: a $1,672 employee share, a $1,955 deductible and a $27 primary care copay. A plan that asks for more than those averages on all three is carrying more of the cost on the worker’s side, and one that asks for less is carrying it on the employer’s.
Is a $1,672 premium share what the paycheck shows?
A household carrying a $1,672 premium share and a $1,955 deductible on average has less room for everything else, and benefit programs that cover household costs only pay once somebody applies. Nobody sends a notice to the people who never applied.
The Benefits Checklist is not about employer plans. It scans eleven benefit programs, including SNAP, heating help and property-tax breaks, against the 2026 income limits, and it comes with a 50-state phone directory and a printable application tracker.
Scan 11 household-cost benefit programs against 2026 income limits with The Benefits Checklist →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 15 Ways Retirees Are Tapping a Record $14.9 Trillion in Home Equity
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
