.... more than inflation. Do you think the cost of drugs will go down?

Even more effective drugs are in preparation. Do you think their price will be lower?

If you are responsible for managing these costs, it's just the beginning ...

The options of insurers, brokers, and pharmacists are as follows:

 Transfer a more significant portion of the cost to the employee;

 Decrease the percentage of reimbursement;

 Reduce the maximum payable;

 Remove specific covers (dental, etc.);

You don't like it too much:

it is the opposite of your goals of retaining and coaching your employees.

Among the more straightforward solutions:

 Insist that your employees take generic drugs;

 Exercise better control against abuse, fraud, and the duration of treatment.

 Ask employees to shop for their pharmacists.

 Unse online pharmacies.

These actions are often already in place and within acceptable limits. Many employees have great trust with their usual pharmacist. They will not accept to shop for a new pharmacist easily.

The problem is not the invoice.

In our opinion, these solutions tackle the problem

which shows up at the end of the process: the invoice.

To solve this problem, employers are turning to insurers,

government and pharmaceuticals.

Anyone who can take part of the invoice once it is issued !!!

We are far from working on the source.

In the meantime, your problem swells up. Your staff is aging, and their health is decreasing. This does not bode well for prolonged absences and chronic medication use.

We can add the management problems of public and private pension funds;
the population that lives longer.

Why ?

These difficulties encourage the company to choose to postpone the retirement age. With progress, we can live longer but in poorer health! It will have profound implications for benefit programs.

There is a lot of talk about improving employee productivity, investing in more modern equipment, technologies, etc.

Stopping or reducing future increases of benefit plans will result in more profits.

It will become a business performance issue.

It will be more and more critical for the employer to get involved in the health problems of its employees.

One can choose a generic drug for a diabetes problem and save 30% of the cost on that drug. It may pay more to prevent diabetes in a person at risk long before that employee or their spouse (s) quietly get stuck in this path.

First, start by determining the magnitude of the potential benefits.

In the previous example, we can anticipate that the first medications of a new diabetic are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition, we can predict that this disease will lead to other problems and additional drug needs. We known that diabetes leads to other chronic diseases like kidney failure, neuropathy, amputation, blindness, and also stroke and heart attack.

Ask your accountant, actuary to help you estimate future costs. What would be the cost of all these drugs, absenteeism and other indirect costs for the next 5, 7 years?

Instead of figuring out how to save 30% of a drug, try to see if you couldn't keep the 70% rather or a good chunk. i.e., avoid the problem.

You have to be realistic. It may not be possible without investment on your part. But if there is no bill at the end of the day, instead of saving 30% of a drug, it is quite a saving.

In addition, you will be able to add the “soft” benefits. You will benefit from a healthier workforce, better productivity. You will also be able to retain experienced and efficient staff for a more extented period.

Corponess' Recommendation

Find out what problems already exist or are about to become. Even those of the kind that you find it is already too late ...

This may well be a perfect starting point. But first, improve the situation. It will then be easier to justify taking a more comprehensive approach.