U.S. employers estimate that health benefit costs will increase by 5.8% in 2025, according to Mercer’s
2024 National Survey of Employer-sponsored Health Plans. This would mark the third consecutive year that the total cost per employee rose more than 5%. The report attributed the higher costs to the widening gap between the supply of health care workers and the demand for health care services, along with costly behavioral health care and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications.
The report included an analysis of responses from more than 1,800 employers nationwide. Employers estimated that their costs would rise by an average of 7% if they took no action to lower costs. Not surprisingly, smaller employers (organizations with 50-499 employees) estimate being impacted the most, reporting that costs would rise by an average of 9% if they took no action to lower costs. Mercer’s figure is in the 7%-9% range, lining up with other industry reports, such as Aon and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
“While we’ve seen significant increases in utilization in a fewareas, such as for behavioral health care and GLP-1 medications,overall utilization has had a relatively modest impact on trend this year. The biggest driver of higher costs is price dynamics,some of which are macro in nature.”
-Sunit Patel, Mercer’s U.S. chief actuary for health and benefits
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