328 words…a minute and a half read

One big thing: Data from Aon helps employers and employees with health care affordability challenges by measuring the health disparity within an employer’s workforce and recommending solutions to improve the health of employees who live in underserved communities.

• This data can also address diversity, equity and inclusion in the workforce through employer census data, plan design information, health care premiums and employee contributions to model how these predictors impact employee populations, which helps employers make better decisions to improve employee health status and lower medical plan costs.  
• Read more about this data in Employee Benefit News.
• Learn about Aon’s capabilities through the Health, Equity, and Affordability Tool (HEAT) that provides organizations with insights related to affordability, social determinants of health through an area deprivation index and care access, including primary care and mental health shortages.

Zoom out: Health care is one of the costliest expenses for the typical U.S. household, averaging $12,900 per person a year, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. As inflation lifts health care costs, Americans will experience a growing gap in health care affordability, placing their quality of life at risk. By analyzing employee circumstances, employers can help employees by offering benefits that cater to their specific affordability needs – building a more resilient workforce.

By the numbers: Among employee populations that experience affordability challenges - where health care spend is greater than 10 percent of income - 34.1 percent live in highly disadvantaged areas, 33.5 percent live in an area with high primary care shortage and 56.7 percent live in areas with a high mental health provider shortage.

• Employees with low affordability also drive higher health care costs for employers, with annual costs that are $1,500 more than employees with medium affordability and $3,500 more than those with high affordability.
• According to Aon’s Global Medical Trend Rates Report, the global average medical trend rate for 2024 is expected to be 10.1 percent, up from 9.2 percent in 2023 and the highest since 2015.