Employer benefit design considerations for the era of biotech drugs

A growing number of employed persons in the United States live and work with potentially complex chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. Increasingly, many of the medications used to treat these serious conditions are costly, primarily because many of the newest drugs are high-cost biotechnology derived pharmaceuticals, referred to in this report as biotech drugs. The rapidly increasing use of new biotech medications for an expanding number of chronic and potentially disabling conditions of working-age adults has significant implications for US employers in the anticipated effect on worker productivity, human capital preservation, and health care costs. However, new approaches, including sophisticated modeling techniques, are providing employers with the insights and guidance necessary to make the benefit design decisions that will provide optimal outcomes to employees while managing employer costs effectively.