Employers faced with rising cancer rates among working-age people and costly new treatments are adding specialized programs to their employee benefits in hopes of containing costs.
Businesses are offering more screening options and hiring vendors such as Color Health that promise to help workers identify the disease early, thus giving them their best chance and potentially saving money.
Related: GLP-1 costs drive employers to specialty benefits vendors
Last year, more than seven in 10 employers reported a growing prevalence of cancer among employees and dependents, according to a survey the Business Group on Health conducted last year.
“It certainly doesn't seem to be abating or improving,” said Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of the Business Group on Health, a coalition of large employers such as American Express, Morgan Stanley and Walmart. “The good thing is innovation is rampant, and there’s a lot of promise in terms of what some of these therapies could be.”