Factors including sharp rate increases and regulatory changes are driving employers to reconsider their approach to health benefits and cost management. Accustomed to steady-but-manageable healthcare cost increases, employers can no longer pencil in these predictable numbers. Inflation, hospital consolidation, increased numbers of high-cost claimants, and booming drug spend all contribute to this looming problem for employers. A 6.7% spike in cost per employee in 2023 could have been viewed as an anomaly. But 2024 duplicated the same rate change, and 2025 costs are projected in the same range (6 to 9%).^1,2,3,4