Health Insurers Are Hiking Premiums as Their Profits Balloon
The US’s six largest health insurers reported massive profits last year, doling out billions on stock buybacks and dividends. That hasn’t stopped them from pushing for sharp hikes to Americans’ insurance premiums.

Medical assistant Jezleen Espinoza, right, checks vitals of Yessica Yaretzi Lara Gomez, age five, at the exam room of Every Child Pediatrics in Denver, Colorado, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Hyoung Chang / Denver Post via Getty Images)
The six largest health insurers reported more than $1 trillion in revenue and more than $31 billion in net income last year — and are now pushing to raise Americans’ premiums by as much as 66 percent for some policies, according to recent state regulatory filings. The proposed increases come as insurers dole out billions to further enrich top brass and shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends.
In all, Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces across the country are projected to see the largest rate hikes in more than five years, driving up out-of-pocket premiums for individual plan policyholders by more than 75 percent on average, according to data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. More than 24 million Americans who don’t have employer-sponsored health insurance rely on the ACA marketplace for coverage.
Many health insurers point to rising costs associated with President Donald Trump’s global tariffs and expiring federal premium tax credits, which they claim will significantly threaten their ability to remain competitive.