Balancing the Scale: Obesity, Rx Costs, and Healthcare

Healthcare on the Rocks - Employee Benefits with a Twist

Dive into an episode that's all about the big issues hitting our health and wallets: skyrocketing prescription costs and the obesity epidemic. Two co-authors of the 2024 Employee Health Trends report from Springbuk take you through the ins and outs of how these challenges are reshaping the landscape of employer healthcare spending and what it means for all of us.
Janet Young, MD, Clinical Analytics Advisor at Springbuk, and co-host Jennifer Jones, Population Health Practice Leader, explore the tangled web of drug pricing, unravel why your medicine costs keep going up, and discuss steps employers can take to reduce costs. Plus, we're not shying away from the weighty issue of obesity. Jennifer takes a deep dive into how it's impacting healthcare costs in ways you might not expect.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone involved in employee health benefits, offering actionable strategies and a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape.
What You Will Learn:

• The significant role of prescription drug pricing in increasing employer healthcare costs, with a particular focus on brand name and specialty drugs.
• Insights into the obesity epidemic and its direct and indirect impacts on healthcare spending and employee well-being.
• Strategies for employers to manage rising healthcare costs, including the adoption of generics, biosimilars, and comprehensive health programs.
• The importance of a data-driven approach to health benefits planning, leveraging insights from healthcare analytics to inform strategies.
• Emerging treatments and approaches for managing obesity, highlighting the role of GLP-1 agonists and the need for multifaceted treatment strategies.

Stay in Touch!

• Connect with Janet Young on LinkedIn
• Get the complete 2024 Employee Health Trends report and other related resources
• Connect with our co-hosts Jennifer Jones and David Pittman

Have feedback, questions, or suggestions for show ideas? Send them to us at [e-mail].

Please rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform, and share it with your friends and colleagues. We appreciate you and thank you for listening!

Produced by David Pittman

Theme music: "Overboard" by Stay Outside