By Hank Russell
A recent report has shown that New York residents and employers pay the most for their healthcare and their payments far exceed the national average.
The Empire Center for Public Policy found that New York is first in the nation in healthcare costs for individuals and employees. Based on data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), healthcare coverage for individuals cost $10,913 a year in 2025. This is the first time that healthcare costs in New York exceeded the $10,000 mark.
It also found that last year’s figure was 13.8% higher than the previous year, when it cost $9,589 annually, and 20.9% above the national average annual price of $9,025. It is the largest gap between the state and national prices since the survey began in 1996, according to the Empire Center.
The think tank also found that employers also paid the most in the U.S. for employee coverage. AHRQ data showed that companies shelled out $20,784 for an employee’s health benefits in 2025. That is 16.1% higher than the national average price of $17,901 each year.
However, New York had the second-highest costs in covering families. In 2025, family coverage cost $29,752 annually, the Empire Center said. It is 13.2% higher than the U.S. average of $26,281 a year and is second only to Alaska, where families there pay $30,132.
“New York’s premiums partly reflect the state’s high cost of medical care, which in turn is driven by its high cost of living, especially in the New York City region,” said Bill Hammond, the think tank’s senior fellow for health policy. “State policy also plays a role in increasing the cost of health benefits.”
Hammond pointed out the taxes levied by the state, including surcharges on health insurance under the Health Care Reform Act (HCRA), increasing rates by 7% to 14%. “HCRA’s insurance taxes make no adjustment for ability to pay, hitting working- and middle-class consumers as hard as the wealthy,” Hammond said at the time. He also cited a report from the New York State Conference of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans (NYSCOP), which stated that New York state taxes on private health insurance totaled $7.1 billion last year, with $5.061 billion coming from the HCRA surcharge and $728 million coming from the state’s premium tax, which is paid for by those with commercial health insurance policies. Further, the HCRA surcharge has gone up 601% over the past 20 years, according to NYSCOP.
Hammond also cited a 2003 study commissioned by the Employer Alliance for Affordable Health Care that estimated mandates in force at the time added 12.2% to the cost of insurance – “and the Legislature has enacted dozens more since then,” he said.
This year, Hammond said, state legislators worked to extend the tax on managed care organizations (MCOs) while, at the same time, earmark $100 million from the state’s Medicaid program to subsidize a benefit fund for members of 1199 SEIU, the state’s largest union for healthcare workers. “It’s not clear which fund will receive the money, but the one covering home health workers is a likely candidate,” Hammond said at the time. The MCO tax, which was supposed to lapse, increases commercial premiums by 0.5% at a cost of $50 per person.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers have added mandates requiring private healthcare plans to cover certain medical conditions. Assemblymember Chantel Jackson (D-Bronx) and state Senator Julia Salazar (D,WF-Brooklyn) introduced a bill that would require insurers to cover lactation consultant services for new mothers. Another bill introduced by Assemblymember David I. Weprin (D-Richmond Hill) and state Senator Jamaal T. Bailey (D-Mount Vernon) would also require health plans to cover speech therapy for stuttering. Both bills are currently on Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk.
“The state also imposes a growing list of coverage mandates — laws requiring insurers to pay for certain services regardless of whether plans consider them to be medically necessary, or to limit or eliminate cost-sharing for certain types of claims,” Hammond said.