KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
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Employers are getting ready to spend a lot more on employee healthcare next year. A lot of this increase is because of weight loss drugs surging in popularity.
KSHB 41's Elyse Schoenig looked deeper in this issue, talking with:
- an employee who gets hers covered by her job’s health insurance
- a health insurance company
- an expert to break down what these trends mean
The data
Large employers could spend as much as an additional 7.8% in health costs next year, according to a Business Group on Health survey.
The survey looked at about one-tenth of Americans that get insurance through their job.
They cite pharmacy costs as the main reason for the projected increase in spending, most notably GLP-1's.
The cost of GLP-1's, drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, can get up to or even more than $1,000 per month.
An employee/patient
Jacque Long currently gets her weight loss drugs covered by her employer's health insurance.
"I've gotten a second chance at life, and I'm not going to mess it up," Long said.
Long said her life — and health — will never be the same.
She's taken different GLP-1's for a little over a year because of her diabetes and heart problems.
The results were incredible, from her symptoms to her overall health, including her weight.
But taking these drugs was possible because of her work’s health insurance.
"That hasn’t affected me, per se, but I know there's a lot of people who don’t have that opportunity," she said.
Ozempic and Wegovy are not as accessible or affordable for everyone.
The health insurance company
Dr. Ayo Ajaiyeoba is the medial director and department vice president of population health at Blue KC.
Blue KC serves two roles in this story — it offers companies health plans, and it’s one of the metro’s largest employers.
"Healthcare costs have continued to skyrocket," Ajaiyeoba said. "A lot of employer groups who pay for healthcare have gone from passive participants in these conversations years ago to more active participants."
A little over 40% of employers already cover weight-loss drugs for obesity treatment.
"That's the hottest topic of the year," Ajaiyeoba said. "They're really expensive. So, I'm finding or I'm seeing some several of our clients who are having to make hard decisions, around, you know, do we pay for this drug in the short term?"
A UMKC professor
Chris Garmon studies trends in health care costs as an assistant professor of health administration at the University of Missouri - Kansas City.
"I'm very concerned with employer sponsored insurance and trends there," Garmon said."Healthcare inflation has increased since the pandemic. Pharmaceuticals are part of it, but hospitals are the biggest chunk of employer sponsored health spending."
He said GLP-1's are not the only attributes of the projected increased spending.
He believes the price for hospitals is concerning, too.
He said employees could see their deductibles increasing by hundreds to even thousands by the looks of the projected numbers.
"A lot of employers have been shifting more of the costs onto employees through high deductible health plans," he said. "That's an increasing trend."
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