Beyond costs: an international perspective on the healthcare journey and employee experience

The price of waiting

Faced with these delays, 41% of employees worldwide have had to pay upfront to speed up access to care, even though they had supplementary health insurance. 54% of employees say they have foregone care at least once for financial reasons (compared to 45% in France), including 31% on multiple occasions. 
This situation creates a vicious circle: untreated pathologies worsen, requiring more heavy and costly interventions. Absences lengthen, productivity decreases, and indirect costs skyrocket.
In France, although the healthcare system offers extensive public coverage, out-of-pocket expenses can quickly accumulate, especially for specialist consultations, extra fees, and certain dental or optical procedures. Employees in rural areas or medical deserts are particularly affected.

The increase in chronic diseases concerns employers.

Beyond general medical costs, employers are facing an increase in claims involving serious and long-term illnesses requiring ongoing and costly care. This is due to several factors: an aging workforce, late diagnoses due to delays in accessing care, and improved treatments that allow for longer periods of care.
Some pathologies stand out particularly:

Cardiovascular diseases and diabetes

30% of employers rank cardiovascular disease among their main cost factors. High blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease are closely linked to lifestyle factors such as poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, and alcohol consumption. 
The distinctive feature of these diseases is that they develop silently for years before causing a serious event—heart attack, stroke, diabetic complications. Once they manifest, they require ongoing medical monitoring, costly treatments, and often lead to complications.
The challenge for employers is twofold: on one hand, to support employees who are already affected in managing their chronic illness; on the other hand, to invest heavily in prevention to prevent more employees from falling into these pathologies.

A wide gap in the perception of value

One of the most striking findings of the report is the gap between employers' perception and employees' experience. 90% of employers believe that their health insurance meets the needs of their employees, and 86% believe they are getting a good quality/price ratio. However, 25% of employees do not feel supported by their company in terms of health.

How to explain this gap?

Employers focus primarily on the characteristics of the contract (the scope of coverage, the amount of contributions, the number of services offered), while employees evaluate their experience in the field (ease of access, speed of care, simplicity of procedures, quality of support).
This is the case in France, where this discrepancy is amplified by the complexity of the system (the relationship between social security, supplementary insurance, and supplemental insurance is not always clear) and the lack of communication about actual coverage. An employee who does not understand what is covered, or who has to manage out-of-pocket expenses despite having “good” coverage, will have difficulty perceiving the value of their contract.

Strategic recommendations: our action levers

Faced with these findings, we identify priority areas to improve the employee experience:

1. Simplifying access to healthcare

Your supplementary contract includes health services useful for your employees on a daily basis (teleconsultation, health assistance and insurance, etc.). They provide an effective response to the issues of delays and costs mentioned above. Offering a network of care will also allow them to reduce their out-of-pocket expenses and find healthcare professionals near their homes.

2. Implement a prevention program

Prevention programs, although numerous, remain underutilized in companies. Encourage screenings, early interventions, but also access to tools to take care of one's mental health. If a condition is detected early, its cost will be contained and its consequences will disrupt the organization less.

Align guarantees with real risks.

Use claims data to align social protection expenses with the real needs of your company. This may involve strengthening certain guarantees (optical, dental, alternative medicine) while optimizing other less used items. To identify key items, it is best to consult a broker to analyze your income statement and optimize your guarantees.

4. Ensure confidentiality and build trust.

Communicate clearly about the management of personal health data so that employees feel secure when using these services, particularly mental health services. In France, compliance with the GDPR and the strict separation between the employer and the insurance company are essential guarantees that must be regularly reiterated.