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Aon plc, a British-American professional services firm, is the second-largest insurance broker in the world. Aon has two divisions: Risk Capital, which provides brokerage and consulting services for risk management, insurance, and reinsurance; and Human Capital, which provides services related to health insurance, retirement plans, and pension plans. They are uniquely positioned to judge the pulse of the health care insurance market.
Aon projects that 2027 employer healthcare costs will rise by 9.5 percent!
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts that U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index inflation will trend around 2.6% in 2027. Thus health care costs to employers will rise by almost 4 times the overall rate of inflation:
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/6043869-aon-projects-employee-health-costs-rise/
Employer health costs projected to rise 9.5 percent
By Joseph Choi - August 21, 2026A new risk analysis released by leading insurance broker Aon this week projected that employer health costs in the U.S. will rise by roughly 10 percent in 2027.
Aon, the second largest global insurance broker, projected that at the current status quo, employer healthcare costs will rise by 9.5 percent next year. This would mean spending an added $19,000 per employee on average [This appears to be a reporting error. It appears to be the total projected average cost per employee during 2027] and would mark a fourth consecutive year of near-double-digit percentage increases.
The firm noted, however, that many employers will likely implement “cost-saving changes or programs” to mitigate expected costs.
Aon identified “rising medical utilization, chronic disease prevalence and growth in drug spending” as factors contributing to the rising costs.
Their projections found that health plan costs will rise across all industries, with the highest spikes anticipated for finance and insurance; technology and communication; and the public sector.
“Employers have now experienced several consecutive years of health care cost increases that are approaching double digits,” said Mike Pasterick, Aon’s North America health solutions leader, in a statement.
“At this level, rising health care costs become much more than a budgeting challenge and influence organizational decisions from benefits strategy and employee affordability to broader workforce and financial planning priorities,” he added. “Leaders are undergoing pressure to maintain affordable benefits while continuing to invest in attracting, supporting and retaining talent.”
Mark Cuban says a lot of unjustified health insurance charges are aimed at self-funded employers.
His recommendation? Plug your contracts, claims, bills, denials, et al into Claude AI, and direct it to tell you where you've been cheated.
It's all well and good for people to loathe AI, and legislators to "protect" us with regulations probably written by industry lobbies. I say, if this is the Wild West, keep your freedom to use any and all tools at will. And there's nothing better than AI to go through fine print like health insurance.
Here's the podcast.
https://valuehealthvoices.com/
Value Health Voices
August 20, 2026
Dr. Amar Rewari and Dr. Anthony ParavatiMark Cuban did not set out to become the most disruptive force in American drug pricing. He just wanted to know why the same generic pill could cost $15 at one pharmacy and $500 at another. In this episode of Value Health Voices, Mark tells Dr. Anthony Paravati and Dr. Amar Rewari exactly what he found when he peered under the hood of the pharmacy supply chain, and why his answer was to launch Cost Plus Drugs with a radically simple promise: show patients the real cost, add a fair markup, and sell trust instead of marketing.
The conversation goes deep into the machinery most patients never see. Mark breaks down how pharmacy benefit managers profit from rebates, spread pricing, and formulary threats, why brand manufacturers privately admit they cannot work with him, and how vertically integrated conglomerates shuffle billions between their own subsidiaries. He shares the story of a heart transplant patient whose life depended on a $200 generic her employer's plan refused to cover, and explains why he now spends his time telling CEOs to run their PBM contracts through AI and ask one question: where am I getting ripped off?
Mark also lays out his blueprint for reform, including deductible credit for cash purchases, real consequences for repeat offenders, federally guaranteed healthcare loans, and full contract transparency. He makes the case for direct contracting between hospitals and self-insured employers, explains why he believes real change comes from outside Washington, and settles the question everyone keeps asking: whether he will run for president. This is a candid, unfiltered look at the business of American healthcare from the one outsider who decided to fix it himself.
Episode Resources:
Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company
Cost Plus Wellness for Self-Insured Employers
JAMA Study on Potential Savings via Cost Plus Drugs
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