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By Viviente Health Health News

05 Dec: 3 Employer Health Trends for 2023: Affordability Tops the List

As the world enters a possible recession and healthcare costs rise, affordability will be a key concern for employers in 2023, according to the Business Group on Health. Other top health trends for employers next year will be continued support of wellbeing programs and health equity.
“None of these are new issues, but they’re magnified and a bit nuanced in light of current events and where the macroeconomic environment is,” Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of Business Group on Health, said in an interview. “That’s why we’ve really pulled them forward as things that we’re keeping a sharp eye on as we head into 2023.”
The Business Group on Health is a nonprofit organization that represents large employers on health and benefits policy.
Here are the top three trends the organization is watching for employers in 2023:

Healthcare costs

Employers will likely see higher healthcare costs in 2023, partially due to an increase in demand for care after people put off services during the beginning of the pandemic. A recent Business Group on Health survey of 135 large employers found that 43% have already seen a rise in medical services because of delayed care from Covid-19, and another 39% expect to in the future.
Additionally, cancer is now the top condition driving healthcare costs, surpassing musculoskeletal conditions, another Business Group on Health Survey found. This is because cancers are now being identified at later stages.
“During the pandemic, there were a lot of preventive visits and cancer screenings that didn’t occur,” Kelsay said. “So there’s a backlog of services that now people are going to get treated for and we might see some more late stage cancers being diagnosed, which are going to be more expensive and challenging to treat.”
In response, many employers are absorbing the increases in healthcare costs, rather than putting the burden on employees, Kelsay said. They’re also moving away from fee-for-service payment models to more value-based arrangements, and looking at their vendors to see if they have any duplication of services. 

More focus on health and wellbeing programs

Despite this increase in healthcare costs, the Business Group on Health doesn’t anticipate health and wellbeing programs going away for employees, Kelsay said. In fact, 65% view health and wellbeing as an integral role in their workforce strategy, up from 27% five years ago, the nonprofit found.
“We’ve had some folks say, ‘Well, gosh, maybe in a time of uncertain economic situations, employers might start to retract some of those efforts,’” Kelsay said. “We don’t see that happening at all. In fact, for a number of years when we’ve surveyed our employer members, they take a long-term view of their health and wellbeing offerings and really view them as … part of a strategic component of their overall workforce strategy.”
To continue offering these wellbeing programs, employers will be searching for partnerships that can provide high quality solutions and improve patient outcomes, Kelsay said. Many employers are focusing on programs for mental health, financial wellbeing and caregiver support, she added.

Efforts to battle health inequities

There are several key areas employers are looking to reduce health inequities within their organization, though it depends on the company. These areas include housing, food, maternal health, transgender care and care for neurodiverse populations, Kelsay said. Some employers are also looking to help workers living in rural communities.
“Different employers and different workforces might have different areas of inequity that they might be addressing,” Kelsay said. “But they’re very keen to make sure that all of their employees of any type of population or however they might identify have equal access to health and wellbeing services to treat their particular needs.”
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By Viviente Health Health Lifestyle News

05 Dec: Among Employers Offering Retiree Health Benefits, More Are Turning to MA Plans

While few employers provide retiree health benefits, the ones that do are using Medicare Advantage plans more and more, a new analysis found.
Currently, only 13% of large employers — or companies with 200 or more employees — offer retiree health benefits, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) report showed. Of this group, 50% provide these benefits through a Medicare Advantage plan, up from 26% in 2017. 
For firms with 5,000 or more workers providing retiree benefits, 60% use Medicare Advantage plans, up from 29% in 2017.
Additionally, of the large firms providing retiree benefits with a Medicare Advantage plan, 44% don’t offer any other choice for coverage, the survey discovered. 
The KFF report relied on data from the 2022 KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey. KFF worked with NORC at the University of Chicago and Davis Research to conduct the survey, which included interviews with business owners and human resource and benefits managers at 2,188 firms.
A major reason for firms turning to Medicare Advantage plans for retirees is financial. About 27% of all large firms chose these plans due to cost; 20% of firms with 200 to 999 workers and 42% of firms with 1,000 or more workers selected cost as the top factor driving their decisions. Other reasons cited for choosing MA plans were their administrative simplicity, better coverage options and flexibility for enrollees.
This shift could have several effects on retirees, KFF said.
“As the share of large employers offering retiree health benefits to Medicare-eligible retirees continues to decline, firms that still offer these benefits are increasingly turning to Medicare Advantage, often to lower their own financial liability, which raises questions about the implications for retirees, employers and the Medicare program,” KFF stated in the report. “For some large employers, the shift to Medicare Advantage appears to be a strategy to maintain benefits for their retirees, without terminating coverage or adopting other changes that more directly shift costs onto retirees.”
One of these implications is the impact this approach could have on retirees’ access to physicians and hospitals, the report said. They’ll also have to go through prior authorization, which could limit their access to some services. If they’re not happy with their network, they would have to completely give up their retiree benefits, KFF said.
Another implication is the impact on Medicare spending, as Medicare pays more for enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans than traditional Medicare, according to KFF.
The report comes as Medicare Advantage enrollment in general is becoming more popular. A separate KFF report found that about 48% of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. This number could cross the 50% threshold as soon as next year.
At the same time, there is a growing desire to scrutinize MA plans given that some believe they are misleading for seniors and actually drive up costs for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS recently released a requirement — effective January 1 — that bans MA plans from advertising on television without approval from the agency.
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