UnitedHealthcare partnered with the Health Action Council to identify what’s driving health care costs in the United States today and what we discovered is surprising.
The bottom line… Americans are getting sick more often — and earlier in life. This new report, which included over 225,000 health plan members, finds that Gen Z and Millennials are experiencing chronic health issues like high cholesterol or diabetes much earlier in life and facing a rise in major health events like heart problems or cancer diagnoses.
Some important findings include:
- Average monthly claims for major health events such as heart attacks, strokes, and cancer have increased nearly 40% since 2020.
- Younger generations — particularly Millennials and Gen Z — show the fastest spending growth, driven by earlier‑onset chronic conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol.
Full white paper report can be found here: 2026-hac-white-paper.pdf
