Healthcare isn’t broken. Health insurance is

Nearly half of Americans have resolved to save more money in 2026. Unfortunately, many of those New Year’s resolutions are dead on arrival due to skyrocketing health insurance premiums that, starting this month, will eat up a larger share of families’ budgets.

For the roughly half of Americans who get health insurance through their employers, premiums are rising more than 7% this year, on average — far outstripping the pace of inflation or wage growth. For the tens of millions of people who purchase coverage through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, premium hikes were even steeper — up nearly 20%, on average.

Yet, despite paying more upfront in premiums than ever before, American patients, and the employers and taxpayers who often subsidize the cost of premiums,