The following is an excerpt from UnitedHealthcare’s 2026 Health Trends Report. The report provides valuable insight into health care costs. The good news is I have a few proven techniques to mitigate the increasing rise in health care costs. Thus, if you know a company wondering what course of action is open to them introduce me.
Executive summary
The 2026 Health Trends Report reveals accelerating health care costs driven by catastrophic claims, specialty medications and shifting utilization patterns. Medical trend is projected to grow at 8.5%, with pharmacy costs rising 11% in 2025, while the cost of claims over $100,000 increased 12.9% across UnitedHealthcare self-funded and fully insured books of business. In response, many UnitedHealthcare clients are moving away from high-deductible-only plans toward copay-driven plan designs and expanding advocacy solutions, care navigation and supplemental offerings to balance cost control with robust employee-centric benefits.
Medical and Pharmacy Cost Trends
Health care spending continues to outpace inflation, driven by rising hospital prices, catastrophic claims costing $100,000 or more (up 12.9% from 2024 to 2025), and pharmacy costs that rose 11% in 2025. Specialty medications now represent approximately 55% of total pharmacy benefit spend, with GLP-1s, new oncology therapies and gene therapies contributing significantly to this trend. Employers now spend $1 out of every $4 health care dollars on pharmacy, with some cell, gene and molecular therapy treatments costing up to $4M.
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