One in Four U.S. Workers Keep Unwanted Jobs for Health Insurance

WASHINGTON, D.C. — July 22, 2026 — A new West Health–Gallup analysis finds that 24% of U.S. workers are staying in jobs they want to leave because they would lose health insurance if they quit, a pattern researchers call “job lock.” The incidence has climbed by eight percentage points since 2021, indicating that health coverage is increasingly shaping career mobility and labor-market behavior rather than operating as a background benefit.

The survey results show stronger “job lock” among workers who report financial strain related to healthcare. People with personal or household medical debt are far more likely to remain in unwanted jobs (44%) than workers without such debt (21%). Similarly, those who borrowed money in the past year report elevated job lock (37% vs. 22%), consistent with affordability constraints affecting risk tolerance and job-switching decisions.

Job lock is not limited to those currently burdened by debt. Nearly half (48%) of Americans who view healthcare costs as a major financial burden report staying put out of fear that an unexpected health event would require insurance. The same dynamic appears among workers who experience high daily stress tied to healthcare costs, with 53% reporting job lock under these conditions.

The findings align with broader affordability trends captured by the West Health–Gallup Affordability Index, which indicates that only 49% of U.S. adults can afford access to quality care and have been able to pay for physician/clinic visits and prescription drugs in recent months—marking the first time in five years that fewer than half report consistent affordability.

The study also suggests that chronic illness increases reliance on employer coverage. Workers with chronic conditions report job lock at higher rates (29%) than healthier workers (17%), and incidence rises with the number of chronic conditions. More than 40% of workers with three or more chronic conditions remain in unwanted jobs for coverage.

Certain diagnoses appear especially associated with job lock, including asthma (29%) and immune-compromising conditions (36%). Mental health conditions also show elevated rates, with depression (35%) and anxiety (33%) reporting higher than average job lock.

Women report the highest burden: three in ten women say they stay in unwanted jobs for insurance compared with 20% of men. The gender gap mirrors disparities in healthcare-related financial stress, medical debt, and the prevalence of multiple chronic conditions, factors that likely reinforce perceived risk of coverage loss.

“These results show how healthcare affordability influences career decisions well beyond any immediate illness,” said Tim Lash. A large sample Gallup Panel methodology (5,660 adults; Oct. 27–Dec. 22, 2025) supports the estimates, with a reported maximum sampling error of ±2.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.