Core and Group Health

Just three areas -- women's cancers, reproductive health and maternal health – account for 90% of this already limited funding.

2026 will reward employers, brokers, and vendors that embrace flexibility, transparency, and consumer-driven benefits design — and those that help employees make smarter financial decisions in an increasingly complex health care landscape.

The House might side with the Senate, instead of the White House, on funding levels.

Growth in what employers spent on premiums slowed, and overall health spending slowed even more.

"If health insurance premiums rise faster than wages and general inflation, small employers are likely to face intensified financial strain, which could accelerate the erosion of health plan sponsorship among firms with fewer than 100 workers," said Paul Fronstin, Ph.D., director of health benefits research for the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals said registered nurses and other health care professionals plan to strike at more than two dozen Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics in California and Hawaii on Jan. 26.