Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. workers (24%), the equivalent of about 23 million adults, are staying in jobs they want to leave to keep their employer-sponsored health insurance, according to a July 21 report from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America. The share marks an 8-percentage-point rise since 2021, when 16% of workers reported the same.
The findings come from a nationally representative study of 5,660 U.S. adults conducted Oct. 27 to Dec. 22, 2025, on the Gallup Panel. The analysis focuses on 2,322 respondents who are employed and rely on employer-sponsored coverage as their primary insurance.
The report identifies several groups with elevated rates of job lock. Workers who report household medical debt they will be unable to repay in the next 12 months were more than twice as likely to report staying in unwanted jobs for insurance (44%) compared with those without such debt (21%). Workers with three or more chronic conditions reported the highest rate of any subgroup, at 41%. Women reported job lock at 30%, compared with 20% for men.
The rise in job lock tracks alongside broader healthcare affordability strain. About half of Americans report difficulty consistently paying for needed medical care or prescriptions, and 51% said they were worried about their ability to afford healthcare over the next 12 months, the highest level in five years, according to a separate West Health-Gallup measure cited in the report.
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