Something needs to happen: what employees think employers should do about health care

Something needs to happen: what employees think employers should do about health care

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Author(s):
Schleifer, David, author
Fox, Cruz, author
Contributor(s):
Public Agenda Foundation, issuing body.
Publication:
[Brooklyn, New York] : Public Agenda, 2023
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Financing, Personal
Focus Groups
Health Benefit Plans, Employee -- economics
Health Care Costs
Health Expenditures
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
The prices charged by hospitals and other health care providers are major drivers of growth in health care spending. From 2016 to 2020, inflation-adjusted prices grew nearly 25 percent for inpatient services and nearly 18 percent for outpatient services. Most employers believe health care spending negatively impacts their competitiveness and limits their ability to increase employees’ compensation. They can try to address high provider prices by changing the design of employee benefits. But after decades of rising premium contributions and cost sharing, employees may see any such changes as shifting even more spending onto them. Employers can also advocate for state and federal regulation to address prices, but they may wonder whether their employees want them to play that role. Public Agenda, with support from Arnold Ventures, set out to learn how employees understand health care costs and how they see employers’ roles in addressing providers’ pricing through benefit design and policy advocacy. In January and February 2023, Public Agenda conducted five focus groups with beneficiaries of employer-based insurance and conducted in-depth interviews with selected focus group participants. The methodology section of this report provides details about the focus groups and interviews. The report concludes with avenues for further research and employer engagement.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
Extent:
1 online resource (1 PDF file (34 pages))
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
9918734073306676 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918734073306676