WSJ What’s News - How the Rising Cost of Health Insurance Is Hitting Companies and Workers

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

P.M. Edition for Oct. 22. The cost of health insurance keeps rising, with the average price for a family plan this year reaching just under $27,000. WSJ reporter Anna Wilde Mathews explains what’s driving costs higher and how that affects workers. Plus, the U.S. and Israel are considering a plan that would divide Gaza into separate zones controlled by Israel and Hamas. Journal correspondent Dov Lieber tells us what that idea could mean for the peace process. And Amazon is testing new warehouse robots and AI tools that could make its workers more efficient… and less necessary. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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this can put a lid on, say, salary increases for workers because that money is really having to go over to pay for the health benefits. Plus, what we know about a U.S. plan to split Gaza in two. And meet the warehouse robots and AI tools that could make Amazon more efficient. It's Wednesday, October 22nd. I'm Alex Oslo for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Today, Amazon unveiled new warehouse robots and AI tools that could lead to a future where its human workers are more efficient and also less necessary.

One new technology Amazon is preparing for its warehouses or delivery vans is a robot. robot arm called Blue Jay that sorts packages. Here's the chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, Ty Brady, speaking at the company's event today. Hundreds of millions of different objects that Blue Jay can not only pick, but they can also identify. And over time, it will serve as core technology underpinning the expansion of our same-day delivery network. That's a big deal for us. There's also a new artificial intelligence agent meant to help human managers move workers around and avoid bottlenecks.

And augmented reality glasses would help drivers grab the right package to deliver and give turn-by-turn directions for package drop-offs. Amazon says its goal is to improve safety and offload mundane tasks to AI and robots. It's investing in training workers to teach them to manage robots. Around three-quarters of Amazon's deliveries are already assisted by robots, the company says, and analysts expect Amazon will see billions of dollars in cost savings every year as it automates more of the logistics process. The cost of health insurance has now risen sharply for the third year in a row,

with the national average for 2025 reaching just under $27,000 for a family plan if you get your insurance through your employer. KFF, a nonprofit, surveys U.S. employers every year to get those numbers. This year, costs rose 6% after climbing 7% for the past two years. Health care costs are rising faster than inflation. And economists and business leaders said that could bite into jobs and how much workers get paid. Anna Wealdi Matthews covers health insurance for the journal and is here now with more. Anna, what's driving up the cost of health insurance? The biggest driver for health insurance costs going up is really that health care spending is going up.

There are a lot of reasons for that. Insurers and employers have said to me they're seeing rising numbers of working age people, having conditions like cancer that can really drive the need for a lot of care. Another factor is that prices for certain things, including hospital services, have been going up. Hospitals have been pushing for higher rates as their own costs have been going up. And then a final thing is just new and emerging therapies. And a big item in that category is the GLP1 drugs, the weight loss drugs such as Wagovi that can also be costly. I know from my own health insurance that employers are primarily covering that premium cost,

but how is that getting passed on to employees? So the lion's share of the premium for an employer plan is typically paid by the employer. But as the cost of the plan goes up, if the amount or the share of that that the employee is paying remains constant, obviously the employee sees a growing bite out of their paycheck for that premium. In addition, employers do pass on costs to employees through out-of-pocket charges. So that's stuff like deductibles, like your co-pays, things that you pay when you access care. And so that cost is also somewhat been ticking up for employees. I'm curious what the broader impact is on businesses.

I mean, if they're having to pay more just to cover their employees' health insurance, does that mean that they have to look for other places to cut costs? You know, we talked to a number of businesses for this story, and what we heard is, yes, realistically, if the cost of health coverage is going up a lot and they feel like they can't really pass all of that on to their workers, this can put a lid on, say, salary increases for workers because that money is really having to go over to pay for the health benefits. That was Wall Street Journal reporter, Anna Wieldy Matthews. Thank you, Anna. Thank you.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said today that the Trump administration is planning substantial new sanctions on Russia and will announce more details either today or tomorrow. And the U.S. said today that it had struck a suspected drug boat on the Pacific side of South America. Defense Secretary Pete Higgsath posted a video of the strike on X. He said it took place yesterday in the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed two people on board. Yatak is the 8th reported U.S. strike on an alleged drug vessel and brings the announced death toll from the campaign to 34. Yesterday's strike was the first in the Pacific.

The other seven were in the Caribbean. And the latest money totals from the Republican and Democratic parties show a deep divide. According to federal filings this week, the Republican National Committee had $86 million in cash reserves at the start of October, compared with about $12 million for Democrats. The gap is a warning sign. for Democrats as the party's donors remain skeptical of its direction and whether there's a

viable plan to win again. Coming up, what a plan to split Gaza into means for the peace process? That's after the break. Boardrooms love buzzwords. AI, climate, resilience. But what do they actually mean for CFOs and execs trying to survive the next earnings call? That's where the pre-read comes in.

Real experts and real talk. Subscribe to the pre-read, presented by Workieba. The U.S. and Israel are considering a plan that would divide Gaza into separate zones, one controlled by Israel and one by Hamas, with reconstruction only taking place on the Israeli side until the militant group can be disarmed and removed from power. White House officials said Jared Kushner is the driving force behind the split reconstruction plan and that he secured support from President Trump and Vice President, J. Vance. Vance and Kushner summarized their thinking in a news conference this week in Israel, where U.S. officials are trying to maintain the ceasefire. This is Kushner. There are considerations being happening now in the area that the IDF controls, as long as that can be secured to start the construction as a new Gaza in order to give the Palestinians living

in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs, a place to live. So that's one of the many things being considered. For more, I'm joined now by WSJ correspondent, Dove Lieber. Dove, why are the U.S. and Israel suggesting? this plan. This is a type of plan B for if Plan A doesn't go right. For Plan A to happen, Hamas will need to disarm. And at this current juncture, it's refusing to do so. They're looking for a way where they can continue to increase pressure on Hamas without breaking the ceasefire. We've been talking on the show about how there are unresolved issues in the next phases of the peace plan, including disarming Hamas. Does this plan address that? It's a type of stop get until the

the plan can be fulfilled. Because right now what we have in Gaza is actually a stalemate. Both sides agreed to a hostage release deal and prisoner exchange. And that's what we saw last week. Israel now stationed along a defensive line inside Gaza and Hamas. It's been conducting a violent crackdown there in recent days. We're told that it's reorganizing its military capabilities. So both sides are preparing for potential another round of fighting or a long grind into the future. I'm curious what the reaction has been to this suggested plan from Hamas and from Arab governments. I haven't seen a reaction by Hamas, but we know this plan is one that Palestinians have expressed fear about from the beginning of the war. They've expressed this fear about permanent partition of Gaza.

And this plan could be the beginning of exactly that. Full Israeli control and something that it looks like the situation in the West Bank. And at the same time, the Arab countries that are involved in this issue, they're supposed to be part of it. of international security force that's meant to replace Hamas and will help stabilize a new Palestinian government. And they're saying they don't want to put boots on the ground in this type of situation. So not only do we have a stalemate between Israel and Hamas of the vote, we may have a stalemate between the U.S. side of the mediators and the Arab side of the mediators regarding this plan. That was WS.J reporter, Dove Lieber. Thanks, Dove.

Thanks for having me. Separately, the United Nations top court ruled today that Israel must allow the United nation's aid agency to deliver humanitarian aid in Gaza, labeling Israel as an occupying power. The opinion is non-binding. Israel's foreign ministry rejected the court's opinion, saying it was an attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of international law. U.S. stocks traded lower today because of worries about trade tensions between China and the U.S. The three major indexes each fell less than 1%, with the NASDAQ leading the declines. The Dow fell back from yesterday's record close, and gold continued its retreat from its recent high.

Netflix shares fell on yesterday's quarterly results, while Capital One rose after its earnings report. Reporting after the market closed today, Tesla said its profit fell 37% in the third quarter, while its revenue grew 12% after a burst of auto sales. American shoppers bought up electric vehicles before a $7,500 federal tax credit expired last month. Go to WSJ.com for more on Tesla. And today's news on technology also includes a WSJ exclusive that conservative activist Robbie Starbuck has filed a defamation lawsuit against Google. The suit alleges that the company's artificial intelligence tools falsely connected Starbuck to sexual assault claims and to a white nationalist, and seeks more than $15 million in damages.

Starbucks said he became aware of the inaccuracies in 2023 when using BARD, an early Google AI tool. A Google spokesman said that many of the claims related to inaccurate information that Google addressed in 2023, and that inaccurate information was a well-known issue for the AI data systems used to create chatbots. This is the second AI-related defamation lawsuit Starbucks has filed this year against a large technology company. He settled with meta platforms this summer. Speaking of meta, it's cutting about 600 jobs in its AI division. That's according to an internal memo that was viewed by the Wall Street Journal and a person familiar with the matter. The memo said that the job cuts will affect the company's teams focused on AI products,

infrastructure, and long-term research, but won't touch TBD Lab, the new team that houses most of meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's multi-million dollar hires. The company has been resetting its AI plans to, stay competitive with rivals developing AI technology. And Tinder will soon require all new users in the U.S. to complete a video scan of their face before swiping. The dating apps feature aims to cut down on bots, duplicate accounts, and impersonation, and prevent banned users from returning to the platform. Video scanning will roll out across the U.S. in the coming months and globally where local regulations permit. It's already

required for new users in California and in countries including Canada, Australia, also Australia and India. And that's what's news for this Wednesday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Pierre Bienname and Zoe Colkin with supervising producer Tali Arbell. I'm Alex Osloff for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

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