Hospitals NAICS 622110

Jul 8, 2026 - US Adults' Ability to Afford Healthcare at a Five-Year Low

• Fewer than half of Americans (49%) can consistently afford the care and medications they need, according to the latest West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index. Hospitals may be negatively impacted by decreasing health care affordability. The share of adults who are “cost secure” has decreased from a 2022 peak of 61%, and an estimated 2.8 million more people fell out of that category between 2024 and 2025 alone. Cost insecurity now reaches groups long considered insulated: just 61% of adults 65 and older are cost secure, down from 73% in 2021.
• Legislation aimed at increasing oversight of hospital sale-leaseback transactions and limiting private equity influence over Connecticut hospitals was signed into law in early June. Industry merger and acquisition activity may be affected if more states pass similar legislation. The new law requires hospitals to attest that no private equity entity has a controlling interest in the hospital and that private equity entities are not interfering with the professional judgment or clinical decision-making of healthcare providers. The law also increases scrutiny of hospital sale-leaseback transactions, a financial tactic commonly associated with private equity-owned healthcare systems, according to state officials.

• The share of Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance customers in plans that cost more than $6,000 a year doubled in 2026, according to the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Total 2026 ACA enrollment decreased about 5% to 23.1 million. That figure doesn’t yet count people who still may cancel plans because they can’t pay premiums, so the decrease is expected to deepen. Hospitals may be negatively impacted if plans are dropped due to affordability issues.
• The Producer Price Index for general medical and surgical hospitals increased 3.21% year over year in March, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. (BLS). Hospital industry employment and average wages for nonsupervisory employees increased slightly during the first two months of 2026, according to the BLS.