CalPERS Proposed Rates Offers Early Signal of 2027 Commercial ESI Pricing Cycle

Research evidence excerpt

CalPERS Proposed Rates Offers Early Signal of 2027 Commercial ESI Pricing Cycle

Equity Research

29 June 2026 | 6:30AM EDT

MANAGED CARE

CalPERS Proposed Rates Offers Early Signal of 2027 Commercial ESI

Pricing Cycle

On June 16, 2026, the proposed calendar year 2027 health plan rates and benefits Scott Fidel

+1(212)902-7304 | scott.fidel@gs.com

data, along with planned carrier changes, were released to the public and presented Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

at the CalPERS Pension & Health Benefits Committee (link, link). CalPERS represents Sarah Conrad

one of the largest single purchasers of Commercial employer-sponsored health +1(212)357-2448sarah.conrad@gs.com|

benefits rates covering ~1.4 million lives. While the Commercial pricing process is still Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Valentine Vlasovat a relatively early stage of the annual cycle in June, CalPERS also provides +1(212)934-0210 |

transparency into proposed premium rate and benefit changes, involving both valentine.vlasov@gs.comGoldman Sachs & Co. LLC

leading for-profit and non-profit health insurance carriers. As such, we view the

CalPERS data release as a useful early directional indicator of emerging Commercial

employer-sponsored premium rates for the forward annual pricing cycle, while also

providing incremental anecdotal data points at the company level.

At first glance, the CalPERS’ preliminary rates point to moderation in the pricing

environment, with total system-wide health insurance premiums expected to grow

by ~5% in 2027, compared to 8.2% growth in 2026, reflecting a step-down across

both the Commercial and Medicare segments. This deceleration in the rate of growth

is evident across major product lines, including Commercial PPO/HMO (rising 5.8% in

2027 vs. 7.8% in 2026) and Medicare (rising 0.5% in 2027 vs.