Executive summary
Facing the most acute period of cost escalation in more than a decade, employers who sponsor healthcare in the United States are ready to make major changes. With medical and pharmacy costs rising faster than both wages and inflation, many organizations struggle to meet budgets and are forced to burden employees with rising contributions.
73% of employers face unsustainable healthcare costs
According to WTW’s 2025 Best Practices in Healthcare Survey, 73% of employers report facing unsustainably-high cost pressures, and more than half exceeded their 2024 budgets by an average of 4.5 percentage points (WTW 2025 Best Practices in Healthcare Survey) The drivers are varied—inflation, an aging workforce, high-cost claimants, and the rapid expansion of coverage of certain medications among them—but the outcome is consistent: traditional cost-control measures are not enough. Employers are looking not just for relief, but for structural change.
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