July 24, 2026
Rising healthcare costs are forcing millions of Americans to remain in unwanted jobs.
A growing number of Americans are staying in jobs they no longer want for fear of losing their health insurance.
A new report from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America finds that nearly one in four workers who receive health insurance through their employer say they remain in unwanted jobs because they need the coverage. As a result, research shows that 23 million adults are experiencing what is described as “job lock.”
The number has increased significantly since 2021, when 16% of surveyed workers reported staying in jobs because of health insurance concerns. Today, that figure has climbed to 25%. Meanwhile, 41% of employees with three or more chronic health conditions say they feel compelled to stay in their jobs.
“Anybody having to stay in a job just to keep their health insurance, knowing that they want to leave, is crazy,” Ellyn Maese, a research director for the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America, told NPR. “That is a concerning figure, even if it’s 10%. But when we’re seeing it rise to 1 in 4 employees, that’s pretty serious.”
The findings come as healthcare affordability remains a major concern for Americans. A recent KFF poll found nearly two-thirds of adults are worried about being able to afford healthcare.
“Healthcare tops the list of economic worries right now,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president for Health Policy at KFF, told NPR. “So it stands to reason that people would be concerned about leaving an unwanted job for fear of losing their health insurance.”
Experts say job lock can have broader economic consequences by limiting workers’ ability to pursue higher-paying opportunities, switch careers, or launch their own businesses.
“Leaving, moving, becoming entrepreneurs,” Maese said, “is what we need to see for our economy to really thrive.”
The expiration of expanded Affordable Care Act marketplace subsidies in 2025 may have further complicated the issue by making individual coverage more expensive for some middle-income workers.
Maese said many middle-class Americans are caught in a difficult position: “They don’t really qualify for assistance, but they also don’t make enough to be able to catch up with the rising costs of healthcare.”
Michael Cannon, director of Health Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, said the current system creates barriers for workers seeking change.
“Everyone acknowledges that job lock is real,” Cannon said. “Whether the extent of job lock is 8%, 24%, or something else, favoring employer-sponsored health insurance creates coverage gaps, reduces income mobility, and is crying out for reform.”
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