With health care costs projected to rise another 5% in 2020, employers look to new strategies to control costs

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[{"type":"text","content":"ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 08, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Curbing the cost of health care and increasing its affordability remain the top priorities for almost all employers over the next three years (93%), according to the 24th annual Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey by Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company. Yet nearly two in three (63%) employers see health care affordability as the most difficult challenge to tackle over that same period.\n Employers expect health care cost increases of 4.9%* in 2020 compared with 4.0% in 2019. Despite this cost increase, 95% of employees are very confident their organization will continue to sponsor health care benefits to active employees in five years. Moreover, employers’ longer-term commitment to sponsoring these benefits 10 years from now hit 74%, the highest level in the past decade. The rising cost of health care puts financial pressure not only on employers, but also their employees. In fact 89% of employers believe rising health care costs are a significant source of financial stress for their employees. “Relentless health care price increases continue to crowd out other benefits, making affordability a challenge for many workers,” said Julie Stone, managing director of Willis Towers Watson’s specialty practices within its health and benefits business. “In a full-employment economy, employers feel the pressure to offer competitive benefits and can’t compromise on employee affordability. With employers and employees seeing no end in sight, many companies are getting creative and tapping into overlooked strategies to shrink the total bill.” While it’s important for employers to approach their benefit strategy holistically, these three areas revealed emerging cost-saving measures for employers to tap into: 1. The prescription for cutting drug costs One of the main drivers of growing affordability concerns among both employers and employees is pharmaceutical spending — notably, the increased cost and continued inflation of specialty pharmaceuticals. More employers have been adopting comprehensive solutions, including roughly half of employers evaluating and managing specialty pharmacy spend not only through the Rx benefit, but also exploring opportunities through the medical benefit (projected to grow from 49% today to 85% by ...

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