Recalibrating Benefits Strategy

Why 2025 Demands a Strategic Approach to Employer Health Plans 

As healthcare costs surge and economic uncertainty persists, employers are facing a new reality, one where cost containment is no longer a future priority but a present necessity. According to the 2025 Benefits Trends Survey from WTW, rising benefit costs have become the leading concern for employers, surpassing even talent acquisition and mental health initiatives.

This signals a turning point. Employers can no longer afford to operate under models with limited transparency, high costs, and minimal strategic flexibility. Instead, they must understand the cost drivers hidden in their current health plan designs and network contracts to make informed decisions that protect both their budgets and their people.

Why Cost is Now the Conversation

While the past few years have seen employers focus on employee experience, diversity initiatives, and pandemic recovery, 2025 is shaping up to be the year of financial reckoning. Medical inflation, rising medical trends—such as increased utilization of high-cost emergency services and chronic condition management—and growing treatments like GLP-1 weight loss drugs and specialty medications for diabetes and cancer are pushing health benefit costs to new heights for employers already operating under tight budget constraints. The difference today? Employers are demanding more control. 

“Employers want more control over cost, more access to information, and more transparency, which has sorely been lacking in the healthcare space,” says Chris Wilson, President of Healthcare Highways. “This is a great time for employers to ask for more. Now, they can use tools that not only show what they’re paying for healthcare services but also help shift away from outdated network strategies and disconnected solutions. They can embrace integrated, strategic options that truly help control costs and enhance the care experience.”

Employers are seeking proactive and strategic solutions that truly make a difference and deliver clear value. They are looking to use the available data and transparency tools to be proactive in curbing their plan spend.

Where Are the Costs Coming From? 

When considering recalibrating their health benefits, it's essential for employers first to identify the factors driving these rising costs. There are a few common factors that could be at play:

• National carrier networks with hidden costs in their network reimbursements, and poor provider language yielding less than favorable reimbursements

• Fragmented point solutions that don’t integrate or scale

• Lack of data transparency and actionable insights

• Lack of network strategy of high-quality, cost-efficient providers

By analyzing their current data, including claims spend and vendor contract terms, employers can uncover opportunities to lower spending while maintaining—or even improving—the employee experience.

A Better Network Strategy, Designed for Cost Control

The national carrier networks can feel restrictive for employers due to their one-size-fits-all approach. That’s where Healthcare Highways steps in.  We offer personalized network solutions designed to lower healthcare costs and enhance health plan benefits. Our approach gives employers more control, better value, and improved results. We focus on building contracting solutions with networks that prioritize transparency, competitive pricing, and high clinical quality, making healthcare work better for everyone involved. 

This more strategic network approach helps employers:

• Gain more control over healthcare costs 

• Navigate employees to care for high-quality, in-network providers

• Remove network language that is not favorable to employers and members

Balancing Experience with Cost in 2025 

Today’s employees still want a high-quality healthcare experience, but they also want transparency. They want to know what's covered, who they can see and what the cost will be. Employers, meanwhile, are being asked to deliver all of that in a financially sustainable way.

That’s why Healthcare Highways thoughtful approach delivers solutions that do both:

• Curated networks that prioritize value without compromising access
• Direct Contracting aligning around services where network carve outs make sense
  
• Concise and transparent data to empower employers to monitor plan performance and support data-driven decisions
• Employer-friendly tools like intuitive provider directories and plan education

The result is a balanced approach: it's employee/member centric, and employers have more control over escalating costs.

The Road Ahead: Optimized Plans, Stronger Value

The WTW survey may have confirmed what employers already felt: cost pressures are intensifying, but the solution isn’t to cut back. The solution is to use data to formulate thoughtful, sustainable strategies.

With the right network strategy, employers can transform healthcare from a rising liability into a strategic advantage. At Healthcare Highways, we’re here to help employers take back control, optimize health benefit costs, and deliver benefits that work for everyone.

Let's build something together.

Contact us to learn how we can help optimize your network strategy.