The 2025 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey explored ways employers address health care costs and key benefit strategy considerations in the near future and long-term. Among inflationary pressures in the health care sector, worsening chronic condition burden in the population and the demand for many groundbreaking—albeit expensive—treatments, employers are juggling many priorities. Strategies to lower costs, improve outcomes and strengthen the employee experience were explored in this survey. Fielded between June 3 and July 12, the survey was completed by 125 employers that cover more than 17.1 million lives in the United States.
We rounded up some of our go to experts and asked them to comment on the survey. Here is what they had to say.
Elizabeth Mitchell, President and CEO, Purchaser Business Group on Health
LinkedIn: Elizabeth Mitchell
Health care affordability is the top concern of employers who have been working to retain employees and insulate them from skyrocketing premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Employers will be actively evaluating their partners and holding them accountable for providing high quality health care at a fair price. Transparent data will be essential for that and PBGH is leveraging newly available Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) data to enable our members to do that. The affordability crisis is forcing innovation, and we are prepared to meet the need and support employers with strategies and insights to rein in costs and demand better quality.
Chris Althoff, former senior consulting partner and Head of Marketing, emtelligent
LinkedIn: Chris A.
Soaring healthcare costs pose a significant challenge for the industry. Fortunately, AI tools purpose-built for healthcare can help organizations reduce these costs and pass savings on to patients. By adopting advanced AI, insurers, PBMs, health systems, and even home health providers can streamline their operations, improve clinical and administrative efficiency, and optimize labor spend in an already tight talent environment. When safely and ethically deployed, these powerful AI capabilities can reduce the burden of prior authorization, expedite drug utilization reviews, provide relevant point-of-care summaries, and support timely patient interventions — ultimately driving down the cost of care and improving overall affordability.
Colin Banas, MD, MHA, Chief Medical Officer, DrFirst
LinkedIn:Â Colin Banas
Both American consumers and businesses are increasingly burdened by the ongoing rise in healthcare costs, with employer-projected expenses now reaching a 15-year high, according to the Business Group on Health. In this election year, nearly 9 out of 10 Americans in a DrFirst survey view their employer-sponsored health plan as a crucial benefit, yet 43% feel they’re paying more for less. With stakes this high, the impact on healthcare decisions could lead to skipping doctor visits, missing medication doses, or abandoning therapy altogether, resulting in increased health risks.
Chris Darland, CEO, Peerbridge Health
LinkedIn: Chris Darland
Concerns in the business community regarding rising healthcare costs are warranted. As the Business Group on Health report notes, healthcare costs are up 50% since 2017. Unfortunately, these new costs more often than not have been passed on to employees, many of whom consequently put off seeing providers for regular wellness visits or seeking treatment for a specific issue. This is particularly dangerous for people who may have early signs of heart failure, 80% of whom will learn about their condition only after a visit to a hospital emergency department. Delays in treatment of cardiovascular conditions are making outcomes worse while driving up costs of care. Until we commit to early detection and prevention as opposed to sick care, this trend will only accelerate.
Greg Miller, Vice President of Business Development, Carta Healthcare
LinkedIn:Â Greg Miller
The healthcare rate of inflation has consistently outpaced broad market inflation for many years. In the USA, administrative and repetitive tasks in healthcare account for 15-25% of expenditures. In most industries, outside of healthcare, corporations are turning to technology – leveraging data, analytics, and artificial intelligence – to reduce the administrative burden and reduce costs. With healthcare costs continuing to rise, the time is overdue for healthcare to follow suit.
Raj Ronanki, CEO, Lyric
LinkedIn: Rajeev Ronanki
There is tremendous opportunity to reduce costs and medical spending waste in the healthcare ecosystem. Through transparency and partnership, health plans and providers can impact cost of care, which, in turn, can reduce the financial burden on employers who are committed to support their employees with high quality, comprehensive coverage. Whether it’s related to GLP-1s or any other health care claim, simplifying the overall system impacts affordability while streamlining costs—for health plans, providers, employers, and most importantly, healthcare consumers.