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Mercer: Healthcare prices anticipated to climb greater than 5% for third straight yr


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Dive Temporary:

  • Well being profit prices are anticipated to extend 5.8% in 2025, in response to Mercer’s 2024 Nationwide Survey of Employer-Sponsored Well being Plans. That marks the third consecutive yr whole well being profit value per worker will climb greater than 5%.
  • Employers estimated prices would rise 7% on common in the event that they didn’t take cost-reduction measures, per the survey. Smaller employers, these with 50 to 499 staff and that usually have absolutely insured plans, predicted prices would climb 9% on common with out cost-saving efforts. 
  • Sunit Patel, Mercer’s U.S. chief actuary for well being and advantages, attributed the upper prices to cost dynamics and the hole between the availability of healthcare staff and the demand for healthcare providers.

Dive Perception:

To handle rising prices, 53% of the greater than 1,800 employers surveyed mentioned they are going to make cost-cutting modifications to their plans subsequent yr, up from 44% who deliberate to take cost-saving measures in 2024. Such modifications usually embrace elevating deductibles, which usually result in increased out-of-pocket prices for plan members, Mercer famous.

“Employers are nonetheless involved about healthcare affordability and guaranteeing that staff can afford the out-of-pocket prices after they search care. However in addition they have to handle the general value of healthcare protection to attain a sustainable degree of spending for the group. Balancing these competing priorities will probably be a problem over the subsequent few years,” Tracy Watts, Mercer’s nationwide chief of U.S. well being coverage, mentioned in a press release.

Workers pays an estimated 21% — the identical as in 2024 — for medical insurance premiums by paycheck deductions in 2025, per the survey. 

Employers mentioned the excessive value of medical providers and specialty medication like weight reduction drugs are the 2 prime healthcare value administration ache factors, in response to a latest report by Gallagher.

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