Dive Brief:
- Eighty-three percent of employers said healthcare cost spikes compel them to make tradeoffs with wage and salary increases, and 93% expect to shift costs to workers, according to the results of a survey conducted by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions.
- At the same time, nearly all companies surveyed said employee retention is a top priority and that health and well-being benefits are crucial to achieving it. Ninety-two percent of companies said healthcare costs hurt their competitiveness.
- “Healthcare affordability is no longer just a benefits issue; it is a business issue, a workforce issue and a wage issue,” Shawn Gremminger, National Alliance president and CEO, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Of the more than 400 employers surveyed in May and June, 77% cited high drug prices, 75% named high-cost claims and 68% pointed to hospital prices as their biggest threats.
Employers estimate that hospital and facility costs make up nearly 31% of their total healthcare spending, followed by prescription drugs and professional fees, per the survey results.
Companies said transparency, pricing reform and greater fiduciary oversight could help improve affordability, with support on the rise for pharmacy benefit management reform, hospital rate regulation, hospital price transparency and health savings account reforms, National Alliance found.
Small businesses could be particularly vulnerable to rising costs, according to a recent analysis of rate filings from health policy research group KFF. Insurers are requesting a median premium increase of 14% for the small group market next year, which could increase the financial strain on small businesses and potentially cause them to stop offering coverage, KFF found.
Meanwhile, nearly one-quarter of workers say they’re staying in a job they don’t like to maintain health insurance, according to a recent report by West Health and Gallup. Five years ago, only 1 in 6 workers reported this kind of “job lock.”