With health costs ballooning, workers turn to wellness and the internet, ADP finds

Dive Brief:

The increasing cost of medical care is driving more workers to forgo needed care or stop taking medications, ADP found in a recently released employee benefits survey.
Twenty-six percent of respondents said they’d skipped needed medical care for themselves or a family member due to out-of-pocket costs (compared to 21% in 2020), 22% have stopped taking or taken less medication (compared to 17% in 2020), and 15% declined vision or dental insurance so they could afford medical insurance.
The finding “points to the need for simpler plan design, clearer education and flexible options that reflect different budget preferences,” ADP observed. “Employers can play a stronger role in helping employees make cost-conscious choices without compromising care.”

Dive Insight:

The ballooning cost of healthcare — for both employers and employees — is not a new revelation. Benefits leaders have been following the upward trajectory for years, with pharmaceutical costs, rising utilization, inflation and the consolidation of providers all playing a role.

Employers have followed different paths on dealing with the spike in costs, but at least some have shifted those costs onto employees, including by raising deductibles and other cost-sharing provisions, employers told benefits consultant Mercer last summer.

Similarly, Business Group on Health last summer found that 12% of employers had already increased overall employee contributions, and only 9% were increasing employees’ out-of-pocket costs — but a majority of respondents said they were considering taking either action to lessen the impact of rising costs.

Employers can now see the effects of such decisions, with employees putting off care or turning to the internet (68% of workers) or generative AI (27%) for medical advice, per ADP. On a positive note, ADP found a majority of workers were prioritizing wellness, “such as mindfulness, food choices, and exercise” in an effort to stay healthy.

The ugly side of this focus on wellness is ongoing worker uncertainty and stress over healthcare costs. While workers on average have saved a bit more for healthcare expenses compared to previous years, the number who had less than $500 saved increased. And the percentage of employees who do not feel prepared to handle out-of-pocket expenses jumped from 31% in 2020 to 39% in 2025.

Other recent surveys have supported ADP’s findings, with the Employee Benefit Research Institute also finding last month that workers are delaying care.

This response may counterintuitively lead to greater costs for employers in the long run, as proactive approaches and early detection can lead to major savings. A principal for Deloitte’s healthcare practice last September told HR Dive that employers could address the cost of complex conditions like cancer by covering screenings and even making them available on-site.

The picture may also be more complicated with drugs like GLP-1s; while they are expensive to cover, a major analysis by Aon found that workers’ sustained GLP-1 use may actually decrease healthcare costs for employers over time — both for workers with diabetes and obesity.