Steward crisis could raise employer insurance costs, execs say

If patients start choosing higher-cost hospitals, insurers will see higher bills, and those costs will ultimately get passed on to employers, according to experts

By Isabel Tehan • Published May 17, 2024 • Updated on May 17, 2024 at 11:59 am

St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, one of Steward Health Care’s eight operational hospitals in Massachusetts, is located in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood.

Health insurance executives are sounding the alarm that the Steward Health Care crisis will likely result in increased health insurance rates for employers.

Steward, the healthcare system that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month, is in many communities a safety-net hospital, and is a lower-cost-care facility than some of the larger academic research medical centers in Massachusetts. If patients start choosing higher-cost hospitals, insurers will see higher bills, and those costs will ultimately get passed on to employers, according to experts.

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