Average benefits costs for U.S. employers will increase 6.5 per cent — or more than $13,800 per employee — in 2023, according to a new report by Aon.
This projection is more than double the three per cent increase to health-care budgets from 2021 to 2022, but below the 9.1 inflation figure reported through the consumer price increase.
The report, which gathered information from nearly 700 U.S. employers, found on average, the budgeted health-care costs for benefits plan sponsor clients was $13,020 per employee for 2022.
In 2022, employer ‘s benefits costs increased 3.7 per cent, while employee premiums saw a mere 0.6 per cent increase from 2021, according to Aon. On average, employers subsidized roughly 81 per cent of plan costs, while employees paid the remainder.
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Employees have contributed $4,412 for health-care coverage this year, of which $2,520 was paid in the form of premiums and $1,892 was paid through benefits plan design features such as deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance.
Other factors cited for adding pressure on health-care trends were new technologies, severity of catastrophic claims, blockbuster drugs and increasing share of specialty drugs.
“A key driver of cost growth and budget volatility for employers are new treatments and increased care costs for patients managing long-term complex conditions,” said Debbie Ashford, North America chief actuary for health solutions at Aon, in a press release. “It’s not uncommon to see one per cent of membership driving 40 per cent of health-care spend in any given year.”
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