3 of the biggest healthcare trends for 2026

• Key Insight: Discover how prioritizing specialty, behavioral health, and data can curb rising employer costs.
• Supporting Data: Employers project a 9% rise in healthcare spending for 2026 (Business Group on Health).
• Forward Look: Prepare for intensified focus on specialty access, behavioral supports, and benefit analytics.
• Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review

As employers struggle to find ways to mitigate year-over-year healthcare cost hikes, staying knowledgeable about upcoming trends will be the key to meeting employees’ needs, while keeping spending low.

According to a recent survey from the Business Group on Health, employers should anticipate a 9% increase in healthcare spending for 2026. While many of the drivers that have led to rising costs are out of benefit leaders’ control, there are many ways in which they can mitigate some of the effects by focusing on the most glaring healthcare challenges and facing them head-on with a proactive approach.

Employers will need to focus on three key areas in 2026: Specialty care, behavioral health, and access to reliable data. In fact, nearly three in 10 people are delaying or skipping care due to cost or insurance barriers, according to data from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Meanwhile, chronic conditions — specifically mental and behavioral health challenges — are already affecting a large portion of the workforce with little investment in adequate support strategies, according to the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, resulting in billions of dollars lost for organizations everywhere.

Even when benefits exist, a significant share of workers say they don’t fully understand how their benefits work or how to maximize them, according to findings from the Plan Sponsor Council of America, stunting the impact of existing programs and hindering efforts to implement new ones.

If benefit leaders want to put their best foot forward and set themselves up for success in the new year, these are three areas where they can start:

The growing role of addiction and recovery support

Untreated mental and behavioral health issues like mental health and substance use disorders result in substantial costs for businesses, according to the Center for Prevention and Health Service, with an approximate loss of around $60,000 annually in absenteeism for one organization and $105 billion nationwide. This makes investing in the right supportive efforts and partnering with the right organizations a key benefit strategy going forward.

“Benefit leaders are facing some really difficult choices,” says Cooper Zelnick, CEO of addiction recovery service Groups Recover Together. “How do they build more robust wellness benefits that are competitive and that meet the needs of their employees, without sacrificing their own financial stability or passing those costs on to their employees?”

Improving access to specialty care is becoming critical

More than 100 million specialty referrals are issued each year, according to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the National Patient Safety Foundation. Yet, in a survey by AMN Healthcare, new patients in 15 metropolitan areas waited an average of 42 days for OB-GYN and 40 days for gastroenterology appointments. Those seeking dermatology and cardiology appointments had slightly shorter wait times of four to five weeks. Altogether, the difficulty of scheduling follow-up appointments has become a major barrier to care — one that benefit leaders should take seriously.

If care for conditions and underlying causes remain out of reach, more employees will start to rely on emergency rooms and urgent care for treatment because it’s quicker, driving up healthcare costs and exacerbating the probability of absenteeism and disengagement from employees.

“It’s not about the number of benefits you offer, it’s about the quality and providing the benefits that people will actually use,” says Bryson Tombridge, CEO of medical dermatology care platform Tono Health. “The relationship between patients and specialized care is critical. It’s giving them a moment of relief and building a sense of trust that they’ll have access to the best solution for whatever problem they’re facing.”

How access to better data can redefine benefits

Only 12% of employees reported feeling truly satisfied with their benefit packages, according to a recent survey from employee benefits and financial services firm Drewberry. Data-driven benefit tools could be the solution to not only appease workforces, but it can also help organizations keep their workforce engaged in benefit selection and innovation, especially when it comes to employee health and wellness.

“If you can be on the preventive side of things and get employees what they need when they need it, you’re less likely to reach the point where costs begin to increase,” says Amanda Martell, the director of human resources at wellness benefit solution LifeSpeak.