Login Join us
Data Insights

2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey

This survey highlights how employers are tackling rising health care costs through health plan and pharmacy design.

icon_featured_hand

August 19, 2025

2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey
This survey focused on employer’s perspectives on health care, and how they were adapting their health care strategy for 2026 and the future.
Full Series icon_right_chevron_dark
View Full Series

The 2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey gained valuable employer perspectives on health care and collected the myriad ways that employers are combatting rising costs while offering quality plans and programs. Despite the unfavorable cost environment, coupled with growing workforce health risks and demand for more services, employers will continue to invest in employee health and well-being – albeit with an increasingly discerning eye on outcomes and performance.

Fielded in June and July 2025, the survey was completed by 121 employers that cover a total of 11.6 million lives. The companies that completed the survey are diverse from an industry and workforce size perspective, as detailed in Figure 1 below.

Two pie charts. The first pie chart highlights respondents by industry. Eleven industries are represented, plus another category. The top industries participating are Manufacturing, Retail/Hospitality/Food Service, Technology/Telecommunication, and Pharmaceuticals/Medical Products. The second pie chart highlights respondents by employer size. 72% of respondents have more than 10,000 employees, while 27% have more than 50,000 employees.
Figure 1: Respondent Profile, 2025

Additionally, a subset of employers took part in interviews to complement the findings of the survey. The wisdom and guidance that emerged during those conversations helped shape how the data are interpreted in the full report.

The report is divided into the following sections:

Ellen Kelsay, President and CEO of Business Group on Health, and the entire Business Group team thank our members for their participation in this project. Your support provided us with rich data and thoughtful insights into the future of employer-sponsored health care.

Citations

Before referring to or using this survey report in any way, you must receive permission from Business Group on Health. Please contact [email protected].

Suggested citation for this survey report:

Business Group on Health. 2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey. August 2025. Available at: https://www.businessgrouphealth.org/resources/2026-Employer-Health-Care-Strategy-Survey.

More Topics

Resource icon_right_chevron_dark Affordability & Cost Management icon_right_chevron_dark Plan Design & Administration icon_right_chevron_dark Pharmacy icon_right_chevron_dark
More in Data Insights