The Business Group on Health’s (BGH) annual health benefits survey of large employers for 2022 was released on Aug. 26, showing what HR needs to focus on for employee benefits and employee health plans for 2023.
Employee health plans in 2023
The survey shows one threat that’s looming in the future for health plans, and it’s not COVID – it’s cancer.
According to the report, cancer has overtaken musculoskeletal disease as the top driver of healthcare costs for large companies. The top three conditions affecting health care costs are:
- Cancer
- Musculoskeletal conditions, and
- Cardiovascular disease.
Less preventive care leads to more cancer diagnoses
Forty-four percent of respondents, which covers 135 employers and around 18 million covered employees, said that they expect to see a prevalence of late-stage cancer diagnoses in employees, due in part to a lack of preventive screenings.
When COVID-19 hit, many care centers closed down and preventive screenings dipped, causing cancer to go undetected. In 2020, an estimated 9.4 million screenings were missed, which was projected to lead to more advanced-stage diagnoses and, ultimately, more cancer deaths.
In a virtual press event, Brenna Shebel, vice president of BGH expressed concern that the situation may worsen. “We will have to keep an eye on this as we move through future years and [see] the overall effect of the pandemic.”
The study found that 13% of respondents said they are already seeing more late-stage cancer diagnoses, and 44% anticipate that they will begin to see more in the future. In response to these concerns, 50% of employers report that they will cover centers of excellence for cancer treatment in 2023, and 26% foresaw continuing that coverage into 2025.
In 2021, healthcare costs rose to 8.2%, the largest increase since 2017 – attributed to patients starting to catch up on chronic condition management from the pandemic and longer hospital stays. In 2023, costs are projected to increase by 5%.
What can HR do to keep employees healthy?
It’s important to be proactive about health, especially routine care such as preventive screenings.
Some things that HR can do to help keep employees healthy are:
- Make sure employees know their benefits and coverage when it comes to routine care and other health costs
- Try to beef up coverage on employee health plans for cancer, such as covering genomic testing
- Provide incentives, such as reimbursement for travel costs or an extra PTO day for annual wellness exams, and
- Offer alternatives to traditional preventive care, such as colonoscopy alternatives or early-detection blood tests.