Three healthcare gaps to address now
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Employers should seize the opportunity to create meaningful change by offering inclusive benefits and targeting coverage gaps for women and minority groups as well as services relating to mental health.
Diversity of thought and experience are critical for business success. Yet our Health Trends 2024 research shows that employers often miss the mark when it comes to providing healthcare benefits that meets the needs of the entire workforce. Notably, there are worrying gaps in benefits for women, ethnic minorities and those suffering from poor mental health.
Although insurers are making strides in improving their offerings, there’s still work to be done. Employers should seize the day and use data and analytics to identify gaps in coverage, and encourage insurers to create solutions that embrace inclusivity and benefit all employees.
Our research shows that mental health remains a blind spot for many businesses, and that coverage from medical insurers is still less consistent in this area than in others.
Companies should wake up to the growing mental health crisis across the globe, which escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of poor mental health on business can be significant. Among the potential consequences are sickness absence, disability claims, direct medical claims, poor morale and employee engagement, and colleague irritability or inability to cope at work. Ultimately, businesses that prioritize mental health will attract and retain top talent, while those that don’t may find they’re no longer employers of choice.
The top mental health-related benefits offered by insurers focus on traditional services, such as psychological and/or psychiatric counselling sessions (69%), inpatient treatment (62%), and coverage for medications prescribed for mental health (57%).
However, there is evidence of new and innovative solutions on the horizon. Virtual mental health counselling is already growing in popularity, with 48% of insurers saying this is available through their plans. A further 49% offer education, resources and tools for improving mental health in the areas of self-care, anti-stigma, mindfulness, and resilience.
Insurers are also including greater coverage for targeted services to support youth mental health, socialization and learning — a top area of need identified by employees in our survey.
Our Health on Demand research asked employees which mental health benefits were most important to them. When we compare this data to the services insurers are either currently offering or planning to offer, we found worrying gaps:
- Forty-four percent of employees want targeted services for children, teenagers and parents to support youth mental health, socialization, and learning issues, which 65% of insurers don’t currently offer these. Only 35% are planning to include these benefits in the future.
- Forty-two percent of the workforce say they want access to alternative mental health therapies, such as culturally relevant treatments or animal therapy. However, only 17% of insurers currently offer these, and 41% have no plans to do so.
- Forty-six percent of employees want training to recognize and address mental health challenges in themselves and others, but only 36% of employee health and benefits plans offer this. Of the 64% that do not, only 33% are considering introducing these services.
- Thirty-one percent of employees want virtual counselling (such as video and chat) with therapists for anxiety, sadness and relationship issues, but only 48% of insurers currently cover any virtual counselling.
Substance-abuse treatment is another area of mental health services with inadequate coverage, with 35% of insurers saying they don’t offer it and have no plans to do so.
Most worrying, few plans provide meaningful support for employees who need ongoing therapy. Although 69% of insurers globally say they cover psychological and/or psychiatric counselling sessions, in practice, 52% of those only cover 10 sessions or fewer.
Women’s health issues are universal, with significant social and financial disparities and health system inequalities to address in all regions.
Coverage for women’s health benefits remains sporadic and varies across geographies as our Health Trends 2024 research shows. For example, 64% of insurers in Asia do not offer contraception access, compared to only 33% that lack this offering in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The same research shows almost a quarter (24%) of insurers globally do not provide postpartum care, leaving women to either receive the care through the public system or not at all.
Other key gaps in employer-sponsored group medical insurance include fertility treatment, breastfeeding support and equipment, family planning, menopause support, and abortion access.
Employers looking to address gender equity in the workplace should evaluate social and financial disparities, health system bias, and family health decision-making, and caregiving expectations to establish where women’s needs are not being met. This includes provisions to address the following health concerns:
- Cancer (including breast, ovarian and cervical)
- Maternal health (including family-building and pregnancy)
- Violence against women (including intimate partner abuse and sexual violence)
- Sexual and reproductive health (including sexually transmitted illness, menopause and contraception)
- Mental health, both gender-specific, such as postpartum depression, and non-gender-specific
- Noncommunicable diseases (including heart disease and osteoporosis)
Addressing the gaps by putting inclusion front and centre
Employers that want to succeed in addressing inclusion gaps should ensure their benefits programs meet the needs of all their employees. Companies should therefore examine their current offerings to identify inequities. Once gaps are identified, firms should look to work with their brokers to identify insurance partners that are breaking the mould, delivering innovative solutions that put inclusion front and centre.
Make sure you understand what your employees want rather than making assumptions, and look for providers that can deliver. For a step-by-step guide, download our Health Trends 2024 survey report.