{"id":680266,"date":"2026-11-10T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/680266\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T08:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T08:00:33","slug":"us-employers-keep-passing-rising-healthcare-costs-to-workers-there-are-better-options-gene-marks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/680266\/","title":{"rendered":"US employers keep passing rising healthcare costs to workers. There are better options | Gene Marks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Again, healthcare costs are going up. According to a recent study<\/a> from Mercer, total health benefit cost per employee in 2027 is expected to rise 8.2% \u2013 after employers\u2019 planned cost-reduction measures (without action, employers told Mercer their existing plans would rise about 11%). This would be the highest increase since 2003.<\/p>\n

And, again, we see the same reaction from employers. The Wall Street Journal recently reported<\/a> that even as healthcare costs have gone up, the share of these costs coming out employees\u2019 paychecks has \u201cshot up\u201d even faster.<\/p>\n

Healthcare costs always rise. Naturally, employers are concerned about their bottom line. But is the right approach to pass these cost increases to employees? Or perhaps this is just a little shortsighted, if not lazy. Particularly when many employers \u2013 specifically smaller companies, of which 44% don\u2019t provide<\/a> any health benefits at all \u2013 have options instead of just making their people pay more.<\/p>\n

For example, offering an individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA) plan is a potential answer. Under this type of plan an employer doesn\u2019t need to purchase group health insurance. Instead, a reimbursement is made to employees for when they get their own healthcare coverage.<\/p>\n

An HRA isn\u2019t for everyone. But it\u2019s a good answer, particularly for small business owners. And it\u2019s why ICHRA adoption grew<\/a> between 73% and 128% among employers with fewer than 100 employees.<\/p>\n

Another way to cut costs is by leaning into health savings accounts, or HSAs. If a company already has a high-deductible group insurance plan, it\u2019s usually very easy to attach an HSA plan to it. Setting up an HSA plan incurs a nominal cost but with it employees can contribute their own pre-tax dollars to these accounts and then use the savings to pay for healthcare expenses including deductibles, copays, prescription drugs, many OTC medicines, and dental and vision expenses that may not be covered under the insurance policy.<\/p>\n

An HSA enables employees to reduce their taxable income which in turn helps them save money on their healthcare. Workers like these plans because there\u2019s no required distribution and the money grows tax free. Plus, if they change jobs they can take their savings with them. It\u2019s an easy, inexpensive benefit to provide that cuts costs.<\/p>\n

Once only a consideration for the biggest of companies, a growing number<\/a> of smaller employers are now also choosing to self-insure. Some of my clients have signed up for level funded plans, with which they reimburse their employees for healthcare expenses up to a certain amount and then purchase stop-loss coverage to cover larger claims.<\/p>\n

When a company self-insures, they start paying more attention to the out-of-pocket expenses their employees are paying. Because of this, a growing number of companies are negotiating rates with local urgent care centers, healthcare providers and pharmacies, and requiring their employees to use them to best control their costs. Amazon<\/a> and other online pharmaceutical providers are now offering aggressive discounts on products under corporate plans.<\/p>\n

For many of us, choosing a healthcare plan is more complicated than designing a bridge. It\u2019s like you need a PhD in healthcare to understand all the ins, outs, deductions, credits, co-pays, networks and nuances, and you need an MBA to properly estimate your costs to decide on what plan is right for your family. Paying a consultant to work directly with employees to help them choose the right plan (or maybe go to the health exchanges or Medicare for older employees) not only helps them make smarter, more cost-effective decisions but also helps you cut back on a company\u2019s healthcare contributions.<\/p>\n

Any or all of these strategies can play a big part in controlling healthcare costs, both at the corporate and employee level. So why don\u2019t more companies do this? Because it takes time, effort, resources. It\u2019s a lot of work. Rather than doing this, most employers just pass the cost to their employees and move on.<\/p>\n

But moving on isn\u2019t a great idea. This type of laziness has its risks. At some point, the costs get too high and, considering that healthcare is always one of the most requested benefits, can have an impact on both attracting and retaining workers. The labor market is tight. Most of my clients continue to hunt for talented workers. The ones putting in the effort to offer these types of plans are more attractive to workers and position themselves not only to better control their costs but to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Again, healthcare costs are going up. According to a recent study from Mercer, total health benefit cost per…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":["post-680266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}