GUIDE TO OPEN ENROLLMENT

Health care costs continue to climb, but subsidies will make some plans more affordable.

- RIVAN STINSON

It has been said that nothing is certain except death and taxes, but you can add a third item to the list: rising health care costs. Large employers expect health care expenses to increase 6% in 2022, for a total of about $16,300 per employee (including contributions from both the employee and employer), according to the Business Group on Health’s annual survey. Although large employers expect hospitalizations and other costs associated with COVID-19 to contribute to the increase in health care spending, they predict that treating conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease will have an even greater impact.

Health care costs were flat in 2020 compared with 2019 because the pandemic led consumers to delay everything from elective surgery to annual physicals, and some consumers continued to postpone treatment in 2021. As the pandemic wanes, though, employers expect workers to schedule makeup appointments and surgeries. In addition, more than three-fourths of large employers predict that employees with chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, will increase their use of health care services, according to the Business Group on Health.

Meanwhile, to keep their health care costs down, some employers are tying premiums, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs to wages, which means that high earners pay more for their coverage. In 2021, 40% of large employers offered some sort of wage-based cost-sharing, according to the Business Group on Health. And while the survey didn’t ask employers about their plans for 2022, that number is likely to grow.

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