NFP, an Aon company and leading property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager and retirement plan advisor, has officially published results from its 2025 NFP US Benefits Trend Report.
Going by the available details, the stated report was designed to study how employers are balancing the prospect of providing competitive benefits, which engage their workforce, with navigating an environment of growing fiduciary risk and cost containment pressures.
More on the same would reveal that, despite the continuous uptick in healthcare costs, employers across the board remain committed to their benefits programs. We get to say so because only 4% decreased their healthcare spend this year against a contingent of 43% respondents who actually scaled it up.
Talk about the given report on a slightly deeper level, we begin from the way it reveals that several new healthcare transparency regulations now mandate employers to meet their fiduciary responsibilities, such as designing an evaluation process for selecting vendors. Now, if we put this data within the context of NFP’s survey, nearly three-in-four (74%) employers said they recognize that data analytics are extremely important in developing evaluation processes for their health and welfare vendors.
Next up, we must dig into how these price transparency regulations are making it possible for employers to take greater responsibility and control of their healthcare spend as visibility into the procedural unit cost of care increases. Here, NFP’s survey showed that employers are choosing innovative options, including value-based benefits (35%) and direct-to-hospital/provider agreements (27%), to offset costs.
“New price transparency legislation is changing the levers employers can pull to ensure their workforce has access to the highest quality of care,” said Kim Bell, head of Health and Benefits at NFP. “As employers’ healthcare fiduciary responsibilities expand, successful companies will implement a methodical approach that combines oversight, quality-of-care measures supported by data-driven decision making tools such as TPNet, and strategic partnerships.”
Moving on, the recent high-profile litigation has also instigated greater awareness regarding fiduciary obligations in pharmacy benefit management. As a result, more and more employers are now turning towards sophisticated approaches to their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).
For better understanding, nearly 70% of respondents were found to actively control their prescription drug spend. In order to do so effectively, employers are also adopting independent benefit management at scale. You see, almost 64% of surveyed respondents would choose either direct PBM carve-outs or coalition participation.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the study’s bid to cover leave management policies, an exercise that would end up revealing significant operational inefficiencies. In essence, with employers struggling to manage the complexities of leave requirements, more than seven in ten (71%) are currently spending more than four hours on administration for each leave request.
This has also caused tools like technology-supported or outsourced leave management to grow in popularity, and therefore, help employers remain compliant.
“Most employers are at an intersection of a rapidly evolving economic, legislative and political landscape, and healthcare is a key component of this,” said Doug Hammond, CEO of NFP. “As employers strive to ensure their employees have access to quality healthcare, they also appreciate the importance of minimizing the costs passed on to their workforce. This requires employers to be proactive and innovative in their approach. As they consider options, it is critical for benefits decision-makers to connect with the right expertise as efforts to ensure organizational success become more complex.”
Hold on, we still have a couple of its left to unpack, as we still haven’t touched on a particular piece of data, which claims that employers are still facing a challenge in helping employees enhance their wellbeing. In response, many employers are expanding their mental health offerings through support for employees and their families across various life stages, from pediatric and dependent-children mental health services to increased offerings for caregivers.
Apart from that, employers were also found to be focused on their physical and social wellbeing programs. All in all, there is serious importance being given to holistic wellness programs that emphasize sustainable lifestyle changes through nutrition, education, and exercise.
