As employers face rapidly rising health insurance costs for their employees, industry pundits are increasingly urging benefit leaders to confront “stealth” cost drivers that quietly inflate spending year after year.
While headline issues like premium increases draw the most attention, some of the most meaningful opportunities to control costs lie in areas that are often underinvested or poorly integrated into benefit strategies.
Addiction support services
Behavioral health, and particularly substance use disorders, remains one of the most expensive and least efficiently managed areas of employer-sponsored health care.
Untreated mental health and addiction issues contribute to higher medical claims, absenteeism and lost productivity. According to the Center for Prevention and Health Services, untreated mental health concerns can cost a single organization tens of thousands of dollars annually and amount to more than $100 billion nationwide.
Despite those figures, addiction and recovery services have historically received less attention than other wellness initiatives. Inpatient treatment models can be disruptive for employees and expensive for employers, while high relapse rates have made some organizations hesitant to invest more heavily in this space.
Employer actions: As a result, employers are increasingly looking at more structured, accountable recovery programs that focus on ongoing support, medication-assisted treatment and measurable outcomes.
Improving access to specialty care
Employees may technically have coverage, but long wait times for specialists can delay treatment and worsen underlying conditions. Nationally, more than 100 million specialty referrals are issued each year, yet patients in many metropolitan areas wait more than a month to see specialists such as gastroenterologists, dermatologists or cardiologists.
When employees cannot access specialty care in a timely manner, they are more likely to rely on emergency rooms or urgent care, which drives up costs.
Employer actions: Some employers are responding by supplementing traditional plans with specialty telehealth solutions or third-party platforms that shorten wait times and improve care coordination.
Consider surveying employees to identify gaps in access and understand whether additional solutions are warranted.
Accessing plan analytics to tailor benefits
Because many organizations still design benefits based on assumptions rather than real utilization patterns, only a small share of workers report being truly satisfied with their benefits — suggesting a disconnect between what is offered and what is needed.
Employer actions: Use carrier-provided tools, if available, such as reporting dashboards, health risk assessments or plan modeling software. Review claims data at least quarterly to identify cost trends, any under- or overutilization, emerging risks or cost anomalies.
Understanding which programs are being used, where employees are falling through the cracks and which interventions are producing results allows organizations to refine benefits with greater precision and financial discipline.
The takeaway
Rising health care costs are unlikely to ease in the near term, but employers are not without options. While there are many areas that can be addressed, focusing on emerging cost-containment efforts could be a winning strategy for employers.
