2022 Healthcare Cost Forecast & How to Save Money While Taking Care of Your Employees

Employers throughout the U.S. should expect their group health plan premiums to increase an estimated 5% in 2022. Organizations are hyper-focused on keeping cost-management initiatives into account, according to recent surveys. Health insurers anticipate costs for health claims are also expected to rise as healthcare spending is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels with some adjustments considering the continuous effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.?

Here are some healthcare cost trends that will affect how companies provide affordable and reliable healthcare benefits for employees.?

Look out for Higher Premiums

Willis Towers Watson's 2021 Best Practices in Health Care Survey?of over 300 U.S. HR consultant agencies, projects a 5.2% increase in health plan costs next year. Last year's premium increase was the smallest in decades.?

In related findings:

• The total average employer cost is an estimated $13,360 per employee, up from $12,501 in 2020.
• Employee contributions for premiums also increased to $3,331 in 2021 from $3,269 in 2020.

?Mercer's Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans (2021)?estimates the premium increase figure at 4.7 percent for 2022, based on 1,502 employer responses since mid-June.

Claims Costs will Increase

HR consultancy, Segal, recently published results from its?2022 Health Plan Cost Trend Survey?of 80 major health insurance carriers, managed care organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and third-party administrators.

The survey heavily focused on the health plan cost trend, which shows increases in per-capita claims costs, including eligible billed charges from health care providers before participant cost-sharing.?

According to Segal, the health plan cost trend has increased between 5-7% each year for the past ten years. Still, in 2020 open-access preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and point-of-service (POS) plans reported that the actual cost trend dropped 2.1%, "driven by a significant drop in claim activity," stated Edward Kaplan, senior VP at Segal. He also said employers can expect that 2022 will return to pre-pandemic cost trend levels.

Employer-sponsored health plans face many unknowns while developing medical cost projections for organizations in 2022. People have been deferring or canceling care for the past couple of years and, while it lowers cost in the short term, it will most likely increase in cost over the long term if medical conditions are diagnosed later or left untreated for too long.

Healthcare costs are being impacted by labor shortages, wage inflation, supply constraints, and the new transparency requirements due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Proper cost management through traditional Healthcare Employee Plans continues to be tricky for organizations to maintain.

"Employers understand that health care affordability is a real issue for a lot of employees, especially for lower-wage workers," Tracy Watts, Mercer's national leader for health care policy, states. "They are looking at a range of strategies that will keep more money in employees' paychecks and remove cost barriers when care is needed."

Popular Cost-Saving Measures for your organization

Managing Director of health and benefits at Willis Towers Watson, Julie Stone, states "rising costs and increased utilization, fueled by a resurgence in deferred care, are driving employers to find new ways to control costs while providing employees with affordable, high-quality care."?

The Willis Towers Watson survey also identified measures that businesses are taking to ensure healthcare cost affordability and maximum health care benefits for their employees:

• Tele-behavioral health -?89% of employers offer coverage for tele-behavioral mental health services, such as counseling for alcohol or drug abuse.
• Onsite health promotions -?55% offer onsite/worksite health and wellness promoting activities.
• Specialty drugs -?54% evaluate specialty drug costs and health outcomes through their medical plan, and another 29% are planning to do so.
• Centers of excellence -?48% use centers of excellence within their health plans by paying a higher amount of costs for coverage received at hospitals or clinics that are highly rated for specific procedures or health issues.
• Narrow networks -?30% are planning to offer or are considering limiting their in-network doctors and hospitals to higher-quality and/or lower-cost health care providers.
• Workplace Wellness programs -?68% of corporations have a workplace wellness program in place to boost company morale while investing in their employees overall health and wellness.?

How to Increase Productivity while Saving Money

When evaluating the most effective way to combat the overall increase of healthcare costs and trends, you must consider that health affects work, and work impacts health. Employers are now searching for ways to decrease total health-related costs. One of the strategies is to invest in an evidence-based, well-designed, and comprehensive workplace wellness program.?

Comprehensive worksite wellness programs that improve employee behaviors will actually see a decrease in the healthcare cost trend. Most of the time, companies find that, with proper program participation, the benefits outweigh the program's actual cost.?

Nearly every return on investment (ROI) study?shows a positive return on investment. Researchers from Harvard recently published a summary of wellness ROI research.

Among the 22 different studies that researched the correlation between workplace wellness programs and healthcare costs, the average return on investment was 3.27! This means for every $1 spent on the program, organizations?saved?$3.27 because of overall reduced healthcare costs.

With several different ways to ensure you are investing correctly into the health of your employees, we invite you to consider our unique approach. Our workplace wellness programs are specifically designed to reduce staff burnout and disengagement while saving your organization healthcare dollars. We also offer leadership training and retreats to help create an environment where the priority of mental and physical wellbeing is upheld at all levels. These measures promote the cultivation of proper self care.

The Importance of Therapeutic Self Care

My clinical motto has always been "Self Care Before Health Care". Through our therapeutic self-care education program, each participant receives valuable content and resources to empower them to improve their own overall wellbeing holistically.

Our course includes instruction on the following topics:

• Food as medicine
• Movement and physical fitness
• Mindfulness practices
• Gut Health Promotion
• Boundary and Intention setting
• Stress management.. and more!

Course work is delivered via email and is conveniently accessible through our program health tracking app.?

Our programs approach mental/physical health promotion via a unique focus on gut health.

The Importance of Proper Gut Health

Our bodies carry trillions of bacteria (also called microbes) that outnumber our cells 10 to 1. Most bacteria are not harmful to us as they work in harmony with our bodies to help fight off the bad bacteria (pathogens) and strengthen our immunity, balance our hormones and maintain our metabolism.?

The genetic material of all the microbes that live in our bodies is called the microbiome and every one of us has a unique one that is determined by our DNA. Gut health impacts your:

• Gastrointestinal Fitness
• Immuno Fitness
• Emotional Balance
• Cognitive Acuity and
• Energy Efficiency

The gut and brain are so closely connected that negative changes in the health of one organ proportionately impact the other. Good health is the result of a healthy gut microbiome.

We are able to produce measurable wellness results based on gut microbiome testing by providing:

• Individualized Nutrition and Fitness Plans
• Mindfulness Exercises
• Health Monitoring Technology and more.

Our programs are physician supervised and provide individualized personal health and wellness plans.

The healthcare industry has seen significant shifts in the past few years. Costs are estimated to rise for corporations searching to invest in their employees' overall health and wellness. A proper work-life balance will require organizations to pay close attention to employee wellbeing and respond by offering expanded benefits and richer employee experiences that won't break the bank!?

Reach out to us today?to discuss how we can support you and your team!

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Adeola Mead?is a Naturopathic Medical Doctor with 15 years of clinical experience who provides integrative wellness programs to help improve digestion, energy and mood, naturally and simultaneously. She helps organizations implement wellness initiatives that improve mental and physical health while creating a culture of camaraderie in wellness. She has provided training and wellness expertise to Amazon, Bastyr University, Boucher University and numerous other organizations on behalf of the American Heart Association.

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