Why Healthcare Costs $14,156 Per Employee
Contact

Why Healthcare Costs $14,156 Per Employee

December 14, 2018

Employers of all sizes across the country are all looking down the barrel of rising healthcare costs. With little innovation in the industry, many are left with no other choice than simply to accept double-digit increases to their annual premium and either absorb that expense or pass it onto their employees.

Recent results from one of the industry organization’s annual study revealed that expected costs for large employers to provide health insurance benefits to their employees would reach $14,156 per employee in 2018. Although this is a staggering number, it is no surprise that healthcare costs are rising for companies given the environment their employees are supposed to navigate.

Here are some reasons why healthcare costs are rising:

Healthcare is confusing: It is nearly impossible in today’s healthcare environment to estimate in advance what a medical service will cost us. Whether it’s a simple x-ray or refilling prescriptions, finding the true cost of these services is difficult. Although employers and brokers are using different mechanisms to engage their employees in consumer-driven healthcare (Using HSAs for example) and encouraging them to shop around for the cheapest services, it is a complicated battle. Never before have employees had to care so much about whether a prescription was a brand name or generic. For many, the extra work of using services like GoodRx or telemedicine is just not worth the extra effort. The result? Rather than shopping around, employees will go to the nearest urgent care or emergency room for an acute medical need and the closest Walgreens for their prescription.

Lack of Preventative Care: The Pareto principle states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. For employers, this translates to 80% of their medical claims coming from 20% of their workforce. The crazy thing is, when looking at these claims, a multitude of them could have (and should have) been avoided if those employees would have only had better prevention in their healthcare plan. It’s hard to blame the employees; most primary care physicians are too busy to spend more than 15-minutes per visit with their patients treating acute needs which makes it difficult to focus on prevention.

The healthcare industry is complex, no argument here, but companies should be working to combat these rising costs and search for innovative solutions. Solutions that are proven to save money and also improve the health of their employees.

Here are some ways that Strada Healthcare is combating the rising costs for employers and improving the health of their workforce.

  • Employees and their physician create a partnership which encourages the patients to engage in their healthcare and take responsibility for their outcomes.
  • Increased Access which includes 24/7 phone calls or texting and same-to-next-day appointments.
  • Employees never feel rushed because Strada keeps patient panels smaller which means our providers have more time to spend with each patient.
  • No co-pays or barriers to care which encourages patients to access their provider anytime and never feel hindered about receiving preventative or acute care from their provider.

Here are some resources we recommend companies look at when researching Direct Primary Care.

Back to Blog