Health insurance premiums in Mass. climb 38% since 2019, outpacing the national average, report finds

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The average family premium for employer-based coverage reached nearly $30,000 last year, according to a report released by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.

Health insurance premiums for families in Massachusetts climbed 38 percent from 2019 to 2025 — considerably outpacing the rest of the country — and will hit $50,000 a year by 2032 at recent growth rates, according to a state report released Tuesday.

At a time when millions of Americans are worried about affordability, the study by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission found that premiums had risen faster in the state than household income and inflation.

The average family premium for employer-based coverage reached nearly $30,000 last year. The figure, which includes employer and employee contributions, is among the highest in the country, due to the surge in use of pricey antiobesity drugs, the prevalence of more expensive imaging tests, and other factors, the commission said.

Nationally, premiums rose 28 percent from 2019 to 2025, led by gains in Nebraska, Oregon, and New Hampshire, according to the commission. Alaska, New York, and New Jersey had the highest average costs.

For 10 percent of Massachusetts families, health insurance premiums exceeded $41,000 last year, said the researchers.

The commission also found that more than one-fourth of Massachusetts residents reported that they or a family member had an unmet health care need due to costs. Health care costs greatly exceed housing costs in some regions of the state, particularly in Western Massachusetts.

“The status quo is not sustainable,” David Seltz, the commission’s executive director, said at the start of a daylong hearing hosted by the panel and featuring health care leaders, insurers, government officials, and patient advocates. “We need to confront the underlying structural challenges driving health care spending.”

With out-of-pocket spending taken into account, the average cost of health care for a Massachusetts family exceeded $34,000 in 2025 annually, or $2,846 per month.

Alan Sager, a professor of health law, policy, and management at Boston University, said in an interview that he wasn’t…

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