Insurance Premiums Rising: Auto Edges Up, ACA Faces 15% Hikes

The bill is coming due, though not evenly

The usual story about insurance costs blames everything on the car. The 2026 data points somewhere else. Auto premiums have turned back up, but slowly at the national level. Home coverage keeps climbing and is spiking in a few disaster-prone counties. The biggest jump for many households will be in health insurance in 2027. Anyone budgeting for renewals this fall should expect all three to rise, with health and property likely to hurt more than the car policy in most places.

Auto insurance: a turn, not a spike

The 2025 relief was real. Insurify's analysis shows average full-coverage auto premiums dropped 6% last year, and drivers in 39 states paid less.23 That decline came after a 46% surge between 2022 and 2024, so even with last year's dip, prices are still far above where they were before 2022.29

In 2026 the direction reversed. The average full-coverage premium rose 1% to $2,237 in the first half of the year, 27 states had already posted increases, and Insurify projects 32 states will finish the year higher.23 Insurify CEO Snejina Zacharia told FOX Business that most states are now trending up.23

Coverage of the numbers mostly agrees, but the details vary in ways readers should notice. Connecticut is usually named as the worst state. Some reports put its increase at 10% through June, others at roughly 15% for the full year. That gap reflects a half-year actual figure versus a full-year forecast.2425 Insurify's own consumer pages don't fully match each other either. One says 35 states will see increases, with the steepest at only 1.8%.29 Its midyear report says 32 states, with Connecticut much higher.23 The monthly snapshot shows the national full-coverage rate holding at $187 a month through the summer.22 The fair conclusion is that national auto prices are stable to slightly rising, while some states are seeing sharp increases.

Some of the sharpest increases are in states that used to be cheap. Kentucky drivers once paid about $58 less than the national average and now pay about $65 more. Kentucky and West Virginia are both expected to finish the year up 8%.23 Other states are going the opposite way. New York premiums are down 13% year over year since June 2025.25 Washington, D.C., has seen the largest midyear decline, though it is still the most expensive market in the country.23

Why claims cost more

Most of the reporting agrees on the main cause: claims severity, meaning the cost of each claim rather than the number of crashes. Auto maintenance and repair costs are up 45% over five years.25 Modern cars carry cameras and sensors that need recalibration after even small repairs. A windshield on a car with a forward-facing camera can cost about $1,200 to replace, compared with roughly $300 for a standard one.11

Those costs are pushing more cars to be written off. CCC Intelligent Solutions reported that a record 23.1% of claims in 2025 ended in a total loss, with average repair costs at $4,818.12 Weather adds to the pressure. In Kentucky, hail events more than doubled from an average of 76 a year in 2020–2022 to 178 a year in 2023–2025, which raises comprehensive claims no matter how carefully people drive.25

Tariffs are the factor that could change the outlook. The 25% Section 232 duties on imported vehicles and parts remain in effect. The Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling struck down a different set of tariffs.15 CCC noted that the industry usually takes 12 to 18 months to adjust to new cost structures. Insurify estimates tariffs could raise this year's national premium increase from 1% to 4%.12 Some analysts estimate the auto tariffs could add about 8% to insurance costs on top of other pressures.13

The more striking point is why premiums haven't already jumped. After several years of steep increases, insurers had enough profit cushion to absorb early tariff costs, and State Farm, Progressive, and GEICO cut rates in several states in early 2026.12 That cushion won't last forever. Commercial auto shows where personal lines could be heading: even fleets with clean records are getting 7% to 15% increases, driven by large lawsuit settlements and repair inflation.27

Home insurance: the climb continues

Property coverage never had a relief year. Insurify data shows home premiums rose 12% in 2025, rose another 2.2% in the first half of 2026, and are on track for about 4% for the full year.1 Local increases are much larger than that average. Premiums in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, rose 33% in six months, to an average of $8,615, and Collier County, Florida, now averages more than $10,000.1 Minnesota posted the largest state-level increase, 12.9%, with five counties up 20% or more, largely because of hail and wind risk.9

The trackers disagree on the size of the problem, which is worth noting. Insurance.com puts the 2026 national average at $2,872 and reports a 42.9% increase in Massachusetts, which it ties partly to the state's older housing.3 Insurify's mid-2026 national average is $3,012, and it shows Massachusetts nearly flat.1 Another analysis puts typical costs near $2,500 a year and says property insurance has risen almost 80% since 2020.2 These figures rest on different coverage assumptions and methods. Even so, every one of them shows prices rising, and every one points to severe weather and rebuilding costs as the cause.410

Regulatory changes will add more pressure. California's FAIR Plan announced a 29.1% rate increase for this fall, and regulators there now allow forward-looking catastrophe models in rate filings.4

Health insurance: the largest increase

The health insurance numbers are bigger than anything in auto. Marsh projects employer health benefit costs will rise 8.2% per worker in 2027, the largest increase since 2003. WTW projects 11.1%, and Aon projects 9.5%.31 Nearly six in ten employers plan cost-cutting changes, such as higher deductibles.31 About two-thirds of large employers expect to raise employees' share of premiums.32

The ACA marketplace is in worse shape. Across 276 insurers, the median proposed increase for 2027 is 15%. That would be a second straight year of double-digit increases, after a median finalized increase of 20% in 2026.31 What enrollees actually paid rose 58% on average in 2026, to $178 a month, after the enhanced subsidies expired.31 Some enrollees could be paying 30% to 40% more than two years ago.34 Insurers are pricing in an expected exit of younger, healthier customers, which would leave an older and costlier pool.31 GLP-1 drugs alone add about one percentage point to employer cost growth, according to Marsh.36

State regulators handled these requests very differently. New York cut insurers' average request of 20.6% down to 6%. Washington approved 22.2% against a 22.4% request, and its commissioner said insurers might otherwise leave the market.38 Vermont came in near 3%, while Arizona insurers requested 29%.38 For a household, where you live affects your health insurance bill about as much as your income does.

Seven ways to fight back

1. Shop your auto policy at every renewal. Prices for the same driver vary by hundreds of dollars between insurers. Zacharia argues the only way to know whether a rate is fair is to compare quotes from national and regional carriers side by side.2324
2. Raise your deductibles carefully. A higher collision and comprehensive deductible lowers the premium because the insurer takes on less risk.22 Only do this if you have savings to cover the higher out-of-pocket cost.
3. Try telematics and bundling. Usage-based programs, bundling home and auto, and shopping around are the three biggest ways to save.28 In commercial auto, the lowest prices increasingly depend on telematics.27
4. Consider repair costs when choosing a car. Buick, Hyundai, Kia, BMW, and Mazda owners could see some of the largest tariff-related increases because those brands rely on imported parts.13
5. Review liability limits, not just price. State minimums may not be enough given current repair and medical costs.15
6. Compare the total cost of health plans at open enrollment. A plan with a lower premium and higher deductible saves money only if it fits the care you expect to use.33 For 2027, HSA limits are $4,500 for individual coverage and $9,000 for family coverage.35
7. Update your income on ACA applications. Subsidies stop entirely above 400% of the federal poverty level, about $63,840 for a single person in 2027. Open enrollment starts November 1.38

What it adds up to

The sources point to the same broad picture. The low-claim pricing of the late 2010s is over, and costs are shifting to consumers through higher repair bills, disaster losses, and medical prices. National auto rates are rising modestly rather than surging, but tariffs could push them higher. Home and health premiums are already rising fast. For most households, health coverage will likely be the biggest increase in 2027, with home insurance next.