Considerations for future health programs

On April 7 every year, we celebrate the World Health Day to raise awareness to global health issues. Under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO), this years’ campaign will focus on building a fairer, healthier world. As the access to quality health services is not equally distributed to all people around the world, WHO is committed to ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can realize the right to good health.

Employers can play a central role in offering health insurance as an employee benefit. Health benefits are not only an effective way to attract and retain employees, they can also increase productivity, improve morale and help shape a positive company culture. Furthermore, health benefits can help employees to be able to afford the expenses related to necessary medical care or common medical events such as check-up visits. Last but not least they protect a company’s most valuable asset: their people.

There is no doubt that the pandemic will change health benefits in the future. A recent study by Mercer Marsh Benefits on Health Trends 2019-2020 identifies claim uncertainty as one topic that may impact future health programs. The size and nature of medical plans in a post-pandemic world is difficult to predict but there is a growing concern among medical providers and insurers that the avoidance of care and delayed treatments by plan members during the pandemic will lead to a bounce back of costs as well as higher cost claims in the future.

As the pandemic is burdening the healthcare systems all over the world, the digital delivery of medical services and information may play a growing role in the future, maybe even become a necessity. Besides offering consultation and support to patients, telehealth can help reduce the number of people visiting the clinics and hospitals, therefore prevent the spread of the virus and ease the burden on the healthcare system.

Mental health needs will be of great significance when establishing a culture of health in an organization: Stress disorders are not only an expensive category of health costs for employers around the globe but have also substantially increased during the pandemic.