As employers move past a week of high anxiety and drama over the Supreme Court ruling on health care reform, there’s no escaping the fact that steep employee medical benefit costs remain as a serious concern — not only in the United States, but all over the world.
The cost of providing employee medical benefits continues to escalate at double-digit levels around the globe, although some regions are seeing cost increases beginning to stabilize, according to a new survey from Towers Watson, a global professional services company. And while traditional cost management approaches continue to dominate, wellness programs and health promotion strategies are gaining traction as employers look to promote healthy lifestyles among their employees and improve outcomes.
