Cost Drivers

“From the perspective of both a consumer and a legal advisor to employers (and a former HR manager), redundancies and systemic inefficiencies are both personally frustrating and a huge driver of increased costs. If I had my blood drawn and analyzed a week ago by a major lab, why can't doctors two and three and four rely on that test? These redundancies are exacerbated by the failure of doctors to consult with each other and act like a team. Another driver that we seem to be unable to conquer is fraud and abuse. Unless and until we educate every health care consumer and provide them with complete knowledge about the value and cost of medical services, they can't begin to help police the system. Employers can play a valuable role and save themselves money by providing education to their employees and demanding transparency from service providers.”

Mark Neuberger, Of Counsel at Foley & Lardner

Economics 101

The price of goods generally fall when supply increases and demand decreases. Specific to health care, for many reasons, including an aging population and newly-developed treatments, there's no reason to expect Americans to suddenly reduce their demand for health care. And, a surge in the supply of health care practitioners who are eager to work for lower wages doesn't seem likely (or desirable). Specific to health care insurance, a primary goal of PPACA was to expand access to affordable health care. This expansion naturally leads to higher demand levels. Meanwhile, reform led to a reduction in the supply of insurers, which naturally leads to higher pricing. These are some serious economic headwinds.

While there are many ways to artificially lower demand, Americans (including me) are generally not in favor of those. Meanwhile, we expect our health care practitioners to be well qualified and to provide exceptional care—we're generally not interested in watering down the supply. Thus, while there are some exciting new ideas and trends in how to improve health care access and outcomes, and control the growth of health care spending via consumer and practitioner incentives, I expect health care costs to continue increasing faster than general inflation.

Zack Pace, Senior Vice President of Benefits Consulting at CBIZ, Inc

A Culture of Caring

We have long believed that healthier and happier employees translate into lower heath care costs. Yet, we have had a difficult time demonstrating the return on the investment in corporate wellness programs. To solve the health care crisis, we need to take a multifaceted approach to a multidimensional problem. Benefits consultants can help employers identify employees' well-being needs and recommend meaningful, well-designed benefits, services and technologies to address them. Human resource professionals can't solve the problem alone—consultants can help to foster collaboration among stakeholders and can enlist health care providers and managers more effectively. They can help shape networks to include and reward providers who assist employees improving outcomes for a better quality of life and work and emphasize the value of training and empowering front line managers to integrate well-being into employees everyday experiences. Fundamentally, solving the crisis starts with a commitment to a culture of caring and drawing in people, trusted advisors, with shared values and a commitment to shared results.

Emily Noll, National Director of Wellbeing Solutions at CBIZ, Inc:

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&ldquo;How would you address high health care costs?&rdquo;

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“How would you address high health care costs?”