Dan Mendelson (Forbes 4/7/2022)

Ask American families what frustrates them the most about health care, and the answers are consistently the same: navigating a fragmented health system is time-consuming and expensive.[i]

Employers – the predominant purchasers of health care in the U.S. – are equally concerned about the way the health care system currently works. On average, J.P. Morgan Chase spends $1.5 billion on medical costs for employees and their families. As a financial institution, we recognize that this is an important investment we make on behalf of our employees. At the same time, we also recognize that the system has a long way to go in delivering high-quality care at an affordable price.

More than 150 million Americans depend on their employers to purchase health care. While individual employers may feel outnumbered when addressing system-wide health challenges, employers of all sizes can demand more together from every player across the health system.

First, large employers should prioritize engagement with providers who embrace accountable care. Unfortunately, the employer-sponsored market has been slow to adopt accountable care models relative to public programs, leaving a majority of Americans stuck in a system that rewards more care, rather than rewarding improvements in health. With more adoption of accountable care models and providers working in a value-oriented framework, employers may be able to improve their employees’ health outcomes while reducing their out-of-pocket costs.

Many large employers, including General Motors, Boeing and Wal-Mart, have paved the way to greater adoption of accountable care. On our part, Morgan Health is working alongside J.P. Morgan Chase’s Benefits team to scale innovative accountable care models for employees. As part of this work, Morgan Health recently announced a $50 million investment in Vera Whole Health, a company that provides the infrastructure needed to deliver more advanced primary care interventions and support for other physicians to assume accountability for the total cost of a patient’s care. In addition, J.P. Morgan Chase benefits team will engage Vera in providing these services to a subset of our employees and their dependents.

Second, employers should focus on advancing broader health equity goals as part of their employees’ benefits and care. Employers can and should take inventory of where gaps in care exist within their employee base, particularly among Black, Asian and Hispanic populations where the prevalence of chronic conditions continue to remain high. We’re embarking on this effort with Kaiser Permanente to implement performance-based solutions linked to health equity for J.P. Morgan employees in California. We are also engaging in similar discussions with our other carrier partners, Cigna and Aetna, to jointly achieve our goals of health equity.

[i] How affordability of employer coverage varies by family income Petersen-KFF 3/10/2022)
Employer-based coverage is the most common source of health insurance for non-elderly Americans. The degree of financial protection from high health care costs varies considerably across employer plans and by family income. People in lower-income families (below 200% of poverty) spend 10.4% of their family income, on average, on premiums and out-of-pocket costs, compared to 6.9% for people in families with incomes between 200% and 399% of poverty, and 3.5% for people with incomes of 400% of poverty or more. Spending toward premium contribution and out-of-pocket medical costs is higher for families with at least one member in worse health across all income groups.