EMPLOYER AFFORDABILITY SURVEY
A new statewide survey by the Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine reveals that rising healthcare costs are creating serious challenges for Maine employers, with the vast majority believing that working Mainers struggle to afford health care. Employers broadly report that premium increases are already forcing difficult tradeoffs between healthcare benefits, wage growth, and hiring — and most are not confident those tradeoffs will get easier in the years ahead. There is strong consensus among respondents that the status quo is unsustainable, and that legislative intervention is needed to address the underlying cost drivers. If savings were realized, employers indicated they would prioritize passing those benefits along to workers through lower premiums, higher wages, and improved coverage.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and gathered responses from more than 100 Maine businesses of varying sizes and sectors, providing employer perspectives on healthcare affordability across the state.
An overwhelming majority of employers (96%) express concern about rising employee health insurance costs, with 87% reporting they are "Very Concerned."
To cope with rising healthcare costs over the past three years, employers have taken a number of actions, with the top responses being limiting wage increases or bonuses (29%), reducing hiring and staffing (22%), and absorbing reduced profit margins (20%).
If premium costs continue rising, Maine employers anticipate having to take further action, with the majority planning to increase contributions (68%), limit wage increases and bonuses (57%), and/or reduce hiring (40%) — and notably, 1 in 5 would even consider dropping coverage altogether.
Employers express deep uncertainty about the long-term sustainability of their current health benefits, with nearly two-thirds (61%) reporting they are "not very" or "not at all" confident they can maintain their current level of coverage over the next five years, compared to just 35% who feel confident.
There is near-unanimous support among health plan sponsors for legislative action on hospital prices, with 93% rating it "very important" or "important" that the Maine Legislature address the issue.
Survey respondents show strong backing for capping hospital prices at a percentage of Medicare rates, with 70% expressing support — including a majority (51%) who strongly support the policy — while only 6% oppose it.
Employers are even more unified in their support for capping annual hospital price growth, with 72% in favor — including a majority (56%) who strongly support it — and notably zero respondents strongly opposing the measure.
49% of respondents support a policy that gives employers the right to steer patients away from high-cost or low-quality hospitals, 22% are opposed, and 29% are unsure.
Maine employers overwhelmingly indicate that savings from hospital price caps would flow directly back to workers, with the top three uses all employee-focused — reducing employee premium contributions (53%), increasing wages or bonuses (44%), and expanding benefits (30%).
Employers demonstrate strong support for greater state oversight of hospital mergers and acquisitions, with 77% saying they would be likely to support such oversight compared to just 4% opposed.