Don’t just renew
Sutter Health Plan small business plans in California: 1.2% for 2027, after 26.7% the year before
Sutter Health Plan filed the lowest January 2027 increase in California, 1.2% on average. It comes right after one of the highest, 26.7% for January 2026. Put the two years together and Sutter’s total increase is still higher than most other California plans’.
The short version
- Sutter’s 2027 filing averages 1.2%. Groups renewing in January itself average a bit more, 3.1%.
- Two years at the average rates add up to about 28%, more than Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, Sharp, or Kaiser over the same two Januaries.
- Costs in 2025 came in lower than Sutter planned, and that correction is what keeps 2027 small.
- The number of people in Sutter’s filings fell about 21% between October 2025 and October 2026.
A Northern California HMO that files twice a year
Sutter Health Plan is a not-for-profit health plan in Northern California. It files with the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), the state agency that oversees health plans, under the name Sutter Health Alliance, and it sets new small business rates twice a year, for January and October. Small business here means 1 to 100 employees.
Its 2027 filing covers about 2,630 companies and 25,374 people. DMHC lists the average increase as 1.2%, and the federal rate review site lists 1.19%.
| Renewal date | Sutter Health Plan |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | 13.1% |
| October 2025 | 28.7% |
| January 2026 | 26.7% |
| October 2026 | -0.2% |
| January 2027 | 1.2% |
Sources: DMHC rate filings for Sutter Health Alliance’s small business plans, checked November 7, 2026, and the federal rate review site, which lists the same dates. See the January 2027 DMHC filing and Sutter’s actuarial memo. The 2027 figure is as filed. The earlier ones are final.
Does 1.2% make up for last year?
No. A small increase this year keeps most of last year’s big one in place. Here’s what the January 2026 and January 2027 average increases add up to for each California plan we’ve covered, by our math.
| Plan | January 2026 | January 2027 | Two years together |
|---|---|---|---|
| UHC of California (HMO) | 11.6% | 22.6% | 36.8% |
| UnitedHealthcare Benefits Plan (PPO) | 13.0% | 21.0% | 36.7% |
| Aetna Life Insurance Company (PPO) | 10.6% | 18.7% | 31.3% |
| Sutter Health Plan | 26.7% | 1.2% | 28.2% |
| Western Health Advantage | 15.3% | 9.5% | 26.3% |
| Anthem Blue Cross | 10.5% | 10.9% | 22.5% |
| Blue Shield of California | 6.8% | 13.9% | 21.6% |
| Sharp Health Plan | 7.3% | 12.3% | 20.5% |
| Aetna Health of California (HMO) | 8.8% | 7.1% | 16.5% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 6.9% | 5.6% | 12.9% |
Our calculation from each plan’s average increases as filed with DMHC or, for Aetna Life Insurance Company, the federal rate review site, checked November 2 to 7, 2026. Kaiser sets one rate for each year. The two years are multiplied, not added. A real group’s total also depends on its plan and its employees’ ages.
For groups that renew in January itself, Sutter’s two-year total is a little higher, because January renewals average 3.1% this time. That comes to about 31%.
Why is the 2027 increase so small?
Because 2025 costs came in under what Sutter had planned for. Costs are still rising, just not as fast as last year’s rates assumed. The filing splits the 1.2% into parts. Another year of rising costs adds 13.6 points. But costs in 2025 came in 4.5 points lower than the last filing expected, and Sutter lowered its cost growth assumptions, which takes off 6.7 points. Benefit changes take off 2.5, and higher administrative costs add 2.3. Risk adjustment, a federal program that moves money between insurers based on how healthy their members are, adds 0.4. The parts multiply together, so they don’t add up exactly.
How Sutter pays its doctors and hospitals explains a lot of the swing. Most of its spending on care goes to set monthly payments instead of a fee for each visit. In 2025, those payments were about $447 of the $556 a month its small business members cost, and drugs were about $96. Sutter sets its largest provider payment as a share of premium, so when its rates go up, that payment goes up with them.
Last year’s 26.7% was mostly about those payments. Sutter’s 2026 filing said the providers it pays this way required a big reimbursement increase. For 2027, the filing still expects costs to grow 16.7% a year overall, with those payments at 18.1% and drugs at 11.2%. It projects a 2.22% margin, slightly lower than the 2.47% it filed for 2026.
Why January renewals pay more
Groups renewing in January make up 5,610 of the 25,374 people in the filing. They average a 3.1% increase and about $1,018 a month per person after renewal, against 1.2% and $817 across every month in the filing. The filing doesn’t say why. Averages like these move with the plans, ages, and locations of the groups renewing in a given month.
| Renewal month | People renewing | Average increase | Average monthly premium per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5,610 | 3.1% | $1,018 |
| All months in the filing | 25,374 | 1.2% | $817 |
Source: the rate filing workbook attached to Sutter’s January 2027 DMHC filing, checked November 7, 2026. Premiums are averages across ages, plans, and regions.
Plan by plan, the federal rate review site lists changes from a 0.7% decrease to a 3.4% increase. In the actuarial memo, the high-deductible Gold plans go up the most, about 3.3% to 3.4%, and the Bronze HMOs go down slightly. Employees moving into an older age band add to whatever your plan’s number is.
Fewer people on Sutter’s plans
The people affected by each filing dropped from 32,643 for October 2025 to 25,874 for October 2026, according to DMHC, about 21% fewer. That drop followed Sutter’s 28.7% and 26.7% increases for October 2025 and January 2026. The filings don’t give a reason.
What Sutter sells, and where
Only HMOs. An HMO keeps employees in a set network of doctors and hospitals and generally doesn’t pay for care outside it except in an emergency. Some of Sutter’s plans are high-deductible HMOs, which trade a lower premium for more of the cost when people get care.
Sutter’s plans cover employees who live or work in 10 of California’s 19 pricing regions, which its filing says include the Sacramento area and the Central Valley. It sells them directly and through CalChoice, a private marketplace for small businesses. Its “Plus” plans add infertility and orthotic shoe benefits and cost about 26.5% to 27.4% more than the same plan without them, according to the memo.
Kaiser Permanente is next lowest for January at 5.6%, and Western Health Advantage, the other Sacramento-area HMO plan we’ve covered, is at 9.5%. Covered California for Small Business, which doesn’t include Sutter, says its 2027 rates are going up 8.6% on average, according to its October announcement.
Reading your Sutter renewal
Check three numbers on the notice: your own plan’s rate, since the filing runs from a 0.7% drop to a 3.4% increase; your renewal month, since January renewals average 3.1%; and whether you’re on a Plus plan, which carries a higher price for its extra benefits. Then confirm your employees’ doctors and medical groups are in Sutter’s network, especially anyone living outside the regions it covers.
Don’t Just Renew is not associated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Sutter Health Plan. Sutter Health Plan is a trademark of its owner, and we use the name only to report public rate data. This article is general information, not insurance advice. Figures are current as of November 7, 2026.