The State of Employee Health—and Where Employers Need to Focus

A new Workforce Health Index found that care deferrals during the pandemic contributed to relatively stable healthcare costs for employers—yet a deeper analysis of medical claims during the same time period indicates that employees and their families’ health has grown 3x worse than expected. Trends suggest employers may face a new wave of healthcare expenses in coming years if top cost drivers like musculoskeletal (MSK) and fast-growing demand for behavioral health services are left unaddressed.