US employers expect nearly 6% spike in health insurance costs in 2025, Mercer says
By Amina Niasse
NEW YORK, Sept 12 (Reuters) -U.S. employers expect health insurance costs to rise an average 5.8% in 2025, largely due to increased cost of medical services as well as higher use, according to a survey released by consulting firm Mercer on Thursday.
The year 2025 is projected to be the third consecutive year in which healthcare costs for employers rise by more than5%. Costs increased an average 3% during the decade prior, the report said.
In part, the higher cost of each medical service is driven by a continued shortage of healthcare workers, linked to providers raising prices, Mercer said. Spending on behavioral health and popular but pricey GLP-1 weight loss drugs are also contributors.
The share of total health plan costs paid byemployees, an average of 21%, is expected to remain about the same in 2025, said Beth Umland, director of employer research for health and benefits at Mercer.
Mercer said 53% of employers plan to implement cost-management changes in 2025, an increase from 44% in 2024.
Those strategies would target reducing utilization by plan members with expensive conditions and managing specialty drug costs, Umland said. In 2024, prescription drug spending remained the fastest-growing cost for employers, rising 7.2% from 8.6% in 2023.
Among employer concerns are expensive gene and cellular therapies, Umland said. Such therapies can cost $1 million or more."These drugs are at cost levels that we have never seen before. And while they're still few and far between, when one of those claims hit, employers really feel it."
Employers with workforces sized between 50 to 499 employees reported the highest cost increases, by 9% if they do not take measures to manage costs and 6.3% if cost-management changes are made.
A greater portion of small employers pay private insurers for fully insured health plans. Costs for such planstend to carry a higher premium and employers are unable to add cost-saving well-being programs, said Mercer's Chief Actuary Sunit Patel.
Mercer's survey covers 1,800 U.S. employers ranging from those with 50 to over 500 employees.
Reporting by Amina Niasse; editing by Caroline Humer and David Gregorio
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
