How Employers Investment In Health Benefits Has Transformed Over Time

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, employers treated insurance companies like anything when it came to employee benefits. However, the current focus is on providing employees with a variety of context-sensitive solutions, with a focus on cost-effectiveness, cost reduction, and improved results.

“Before Covid, going even further, many of these investments were with a large operator,” said Drew Hodgson, national health and practice manager at Willis Towers Watson. “Like UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, whoever it was, was a navigator, a center of excellence and did it all. It was an emporium for everyone. I think employers are realizing that specialist providers can potentially complement what carriers do.

What point solutions do they focus on? Some experts say the list is long. Nearly 70% of large employers plan to increase payouts by 2023, according to a recent Mercer survey , with 84% of employers listing “improving employee attractiveness and retention” as a priority .

But one benefit that's growing in popularity is behavioral health. According to a recent Willis Towers Watson survey, nearly 88% of employers have taken steps to improve their mental health services in the past year. Another 67% said they plan to prioritize mental health and emotional well-being programs over the next three years. Additionally, a Mercer survey found that more than a third of large employers are training mental health managers, 34% have added a behavioral health navigation service, and 74% said improving access to health behavioral will be a priority in the coming years. While experts have declined to name specific companies in the sector, solutions for employers dealing with mental health and wellbeing include Headspace Health and Calm .

“When it comes to mental health and addictions, we have seen an increase in anxiety, depression and adjustment disorders in recent years, which can sometimes coincide with stress,” said Christine Schulze, lead behavioral health consultant at Mercer. “We've seen employees rethink how they think about work… To attract and retain talent, employers have had to respond.

Reproductive health is also becoming increasingly important to employers, with 37 percent of employers offering one or more reproductive health solutions, according to Mercer. Additionally, 19% offer fertility benefits (for example, financial support for fertility treatment) and 15% offer fertility concierge services (for example, access to a dedicated specialist who works with the member and the support team). Healthcare providers offering family planning benefits to employers include Carrot Fertility and Maven Clinic, although they weren't mentioned by experts.

Another important priority for employers is affordability. According to Mercer, large employers are refusing to provide a consumer-facing high-deductible health plan as the only option for health insurance plans, with only 9% doing so in 2022, up from 22%.

"There's been a pretty big push to help people affordably," said Alexander Domashevich, senior director of general healthcare management at Mercer. “So how can we help low-income people afford the help they need? How can we give them flexibility? »

Mental health, affordability, and family planning are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the long list of things employers invest in. Employers also offer health equity solutions such as inclusive health care , virtual health care such as MDLive , and caregiver assistance such as Pope . and more.

Even if employers invest in specific solutions, all this inevitably leads to decision fatigue. This is where navigation system providers such as Hodgson, Accolade and Quantum Health come into play. While these types of businesses have a hard time demonstrating direct ROI to employers , they still have a lot of value.

"Sellers are very tired right now," Hodgson said. "With so many targeted solutions, so much investment in the market, employers are starting to get dizzy with all the possible options for the help they need."

But as employers add to these benefits over time, a tougher business environment will put more pressure on salespeople.

Ellen Kelsey, president and CEO of Health Business Group, says employers are starting to review the providers they add and analyze that deliver the best results and that may overlap.

“Even employers say: “Have all the solutions I implemented in recent years brought the expected results?” Now that we are in a near post-pandemic situation, is there duplication and duplication of any of my services? Do we need to simplify to improve efficiency, cost effectiveness, quality of outcomes and quality of patient care? Kelsey said. "They're taking a more streamlined approach to their partnerships and expect their partners to provide them with a more integrated patient experience, a more integrated data experience as a recipient of these services."

Some employers are also starting to offer lifestyle spending accounts, which provide money for certain employee-selected benefits, Domashevich said . Maybe this could be used for some digital health solutions like stress management and mindfulness. It also allows the employer to provide benefits without having to contract with another punctual fix, he said.

“There is a willingness not to go for all these point solutions,” Domashevich said . “There will always be something new and amazing coming that people will throw up their hands and say, 'Hey, we want this.' … Instead of managing a huge ecosystem, it makes sense to provide financial support and say, "You choose what's important to you, and here's the funding for it." Choose what's right for you at this particular moment." I think in the future we might try to be more flexible and provide options one way or another.

Photo: Theodora Kiosea, Getty Images

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