Three health care trends impacting employers in 2025

Specialty medications for treating cancer, drugs for weight-loss and high utilization of behavioral health benefits are all going to be top of mind for employers this year.

Employers are continuing to face cost challenges in 2025. Risk management firm Aon agrees, forecasting that employer health care costs are estimated to rise 9% over the rest of the year.

Many employers are finding that the culprits behind those high costs are the specialty drugs to treat cancer, the high utilization of behavioral health services and GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity.

The high cost of specialty medications for treating catastrophic cancer cases

Catastrophic cancer cases are among the top issues facing employers. It’s the severity of the cancer cases in an employer’s workforce, which has become so expensive for employers, versus the frequency of cancer cases. In fact, an IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science report shows that the median annual cost for new oncology medicines launched is tens of thousands more than it was a decade ago.

On one hand, the invention of therapeutics has helped more cancer patients stay alive longer, but on the other side, they can be very expensive, and sometimes unsustainably so.

What does this mean for an employer’s health care strategy? To help contain health care spending, employers may want to go with a plan that can help guide employees to the optimal site of care. It may also mean integrating medical and pharmacy benefits that make it more seamless for employees to make better decisions around cost.

The continued need for the right behavioral health support

More than 25% of U.S. adults live with a mental illness, and more than 1 in 7 U.S. children, ages 3 to 17, currently live with a behavioral health condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  In other words, behavioral health conditions are all too common, and they have ripple effects on an employee’s performance at work, such as increased absenteeism and decreased productivity.

What’s more: The American Psychological Association found that 92% of surveyed employees indicated it’s important to work for an employer who values their emotional and psychological well-being and provides support for employee mental health.

At the same time, behavioral health costs are a major contributor to an employer’s high costs. For some clients, behavioral health costs are escalating exponentially. In some cases, they may cost employers more than chronic conditions, such as musculoskeletal or circulatory illnesses.

What does this mean for an employer’s health care strategy? Employers may want to offer their employees and covered family members quality behavioral health benefits for a wide range of severity levels.

To manage costs, it may be critical for employees to get the most appropriate care for their severity level on a continuum. For instance, the Calm Health app, an evidence-based mental health program and tool, may be able to meet some employees where they are with a solution focused on supporting some with anxiety and depression, among other conditions.

The decision about whether to cover medications that treat obesity

The topic of obesity will continue to be top of mind for employers in 2025. By 2035, the World Obesity Federation (WOF) projected that more than half of the world’s population will be obese — the economic impact of that will be more than $4T.

GLP-1 drugs, which dominated the pharmacy news in 2023, have garnered attention for their ability to drive weight loss. However, GLP-1s, which have been primarily used to treat diabetes, are also very costly and may have some unintended side effects, according to the JAMA Network.

If employers do decide to cover some of the cost of these drugs for their employees, they may want to consider offering other strategies like Total Weight Support to help augment these drugs and kick-start long-lasting change in employees.

Disclaimers

Calm Health is not intended to diagnose or treat depression, anxiety, or any other disease or condition. If participants feel their condition is severe and needs attention, they are instructed to contact their treating provider or mental health therapist for help. This program is not available to UnitedHealthcare E&I Fully Insured customers/members in the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia due to regulatory filings.

 Employee benefits, including group health plan benefits, may be taxable benefits unless they fit into specific exception categories. Please consult with your tax specialist to determine the taxability of these offerings.

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