Cost-Containment

Higher medical costs for employer-sponsored plans are due to advances in treatments and health care consolidation trends, as well as specialty drug use and the new GLP-1 class of weight loss drugs, says a new report.

"While the nation is crippled with health care debt, while employers are spending more and more every single year, the reality is that revenue turns into profit for insurers," Lester Morales said.

Less than half of employers are confident in the integrity of health care services and fees charged by hospitals, pharmacy benefit managers, third-party administrators and even broker and consultants, says a new report.

Brokers can benefit from a new lead generation tool developed by Judy Diamond Associates for small employers, while wellbeing provider Grokker is offering a new "live session" mental health solution for employees.

Third-party financial service companies are stepping in to pay providers in full immediately after a claim is filed, then they assume the financial relationship with the patient to collect due balances.

With the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance increasing, the federal government has an important role to play in creating a federal public option for employers as an alternative, says the Center for American Progress.

President Biden's battle against high drug prices, part of the Inflation Reduction Act, is intended to give Medicare patients immediate relief and, in the long term, to regulate what drugmakers charge for their products.

The agency is exploring if the companies that broker drug purchases for hospitals, along with the drug distributors, are pushing the prices of generics so low that they've made it hard for manufacturers to maintain production.