Almost three years after the covid-19 pandemic upended workplaces, psychological well being protection stays a precedence for employers, in line with an annual employer survey fielded by KFF.
Nearly half of surveyed giant employers — these with not less than 200 employees — reported {that a} rising share of their employees have been utilizing psychological well being companies. Yet nearly a 3rd of that group stated their well being plan’s community didn’t have sufficient behavioral well being care suppliers for workers to have well timed entry to the care they want.
As thousands and thousands of staff have been despatched away from shuttered workplace buildings to earn a living from home or risked an infection whereas engaged on the entrance strains, psychological well being issues soared. Now, whilst many workplaces have returned to a semblance of “normal,” some employees are nonetheless grappling with the modifications of the pandemic years and in search of psychological well being companies.
Although 4 in 5 employers reported that they’d sufficient main care suppliers of their well being plan’s community, solely 44% of all employers reported they’d sufficient behavioral well being suppliers, in line with the KFF survey.
“That is the number that for me shows how bad access to mental health care providers is,” stated Matthew Rae, affiliate director for this system on the well being care market at KFF. “That, in conjunction with the huge increase in demand for mental health services.”
The 2022 KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey, launched Oct. 27, analyzed the responses of a random pattern of two,188 employers with not less than three staff.
Overall, the survey discovered that this yr’s premiums for well being care protection have been remarkably just like final yr’s. Annual premiums for household protection are $22,463, on common, this yr, in contrast with $22,221 final yr. On common, employees this yr are paying $6,106 towards these premiums, whereas employers choose up the remainder of the tab.
For single protection, employees are paying $1,327 out-of-pocket towards their premiums, which common $7,911 in whole. Employers pay the remaining portion.
The relative stability in premiums stands in distinction to general inflation, which has been 8% thus far in 2022, and employees’ wages, which have risen 6.7%, in line with KFF’s calculation — maybe, the report prompt, as a result of the annual premiums have been finalized in fall 2021, earlier than worth will increase have been obvious.
That development could not proceed.
“Employers are already concerned about what they pay for health premiums, but this could be the calm before the storm, as recent inflation suggests that larger increases are imminent,” Drew Altman, KFF president and CEO, stated in a information launch accompanying the report. “Given the tight labor market and rising wages, it will be tough for employers to shift costs onto workers when costs spike.”
Among giant employers, 14% stated extra staff have been utilizing companies to deal with substance use in 2022, though about half stated they didn’t know whether or not there had been a rise, in line with the survey.
Among all surveyed employers with 50 or extra employees, 17% stated they’d additionally seen a rise within the variety of employees who had requested go away for psychological well being circumstances beneath the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. That legislation permits sure staff at firms with 50 or extra employees to take as much as 12 weeks of unpaid go away yearly with out the danger of dropping their jobs.
Although using telemedicine companies has eased considerably since early pandemic lockdowns, 90% of surveyed employers reported that they supplied a plan that covers telemedicine companies. More than half of enormous employers reported that telemedicine could be “very important” in enabling them to offer their employees with entry to behavioral well being companies sooner or later. In distinction, solely a few third of these employers stated the identical was true for offering entry to main care, whereas 24% stated telemedicine could be “very important” in enabling them to offer entry to specialty care.
Twenty-seven % of enormous employers reported that this yr they added psychological well being care suppliers to their plan’s community, both in particular person or by means of telemedicine.
In addition to protecting psychological and behavioral well being care companies, 81% of enormous corporations stated they’ve an worker help program for psychological well being companies, whereas 44% stated they supplied staff psychological well being self-care apps.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is likely one of the three main working packages at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit group offering data on well being points to the nation.
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