Overview
Specialty drugs are exposing employers to new, previously unheard of risks, and significantly greater costs. Such costs and unforeseen risks are likely to be untenable, particularly for employers that self-insure, without stop-loss insurance. Data from Mercer’s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans show that high-cost claims and specialty drugs are driving the bulk or rising medical costs. Employers who budget annual healthcare costs could see increases ranging from one to two million, or even twenty million dollars, per employee.

During this webinar, Mercer thought leaders will outline the primary drivers of high-cost claims and what employers should be considering to help mitigate the unforeseen risks and rising costs.

Key Takeaways:
  • How specialty drugs are contributing to the overall rise in medical costs
  • New emerging risks employers cannot afford to ignore
  • Options for mitigating risk, including stop-loss insurance
  • Employer Case Study: Getting ahead of the rising specialty drug cost curve
Webinar Details
Wednesday, May 8
12:00 p.m. ET

Who Should Attend
Chief financial officers, financial employees, benefit managers and anyone who participates in the design or decision making for health programs and benefit packages.

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Your Speakers:
  • Daniel Davey, Principal

    Daniel Davey is a Health & Group Benefits stop loss specialty practice leader and currently
    oversees Mercer’s Stop Loss Center of Excellence. In addition to leading the stop loss specialty
    practice, which includes the placement of more than $1 billion in stop loss premium each year,
    he also contributes to a wide variety of projects for clients, including plan design, carrier
    selection and general strategy development.
    Daniel earned a B.S. in Financial Economics from University of Maryland, Baltimore County and
    an M.B.A. from Rider University. He is currently licensed as a producer in life, accident and
    health authorities.

  • Kate BrownSuzanne Delbanco
    Executive Director, Catalyst for Payment Reform

  • Daniel Davey, Principal

    Daniel Davey is a Health & Group Benefits stop loss specialty practice leader and currently oversees Mercer’s Stop Loss Center of Excellence. In addition to leading the stop loss specialty practice, which includes the placement of more than $1 billion in stop loss premium each year, he also contributes to a wide variety of projects for clients, including plan design, carrier selection and general strategy development.

    Daniel earned a B.S. in Financial Economics from University of Maryland, Baltimore County and an M.B.A. from Rider University. He is currently licensed as a producer in life, accident and health authorities.


  • David Dross, Partner

    David Dross is the national practice leader of Mercer Health and Benefits’ Managed Pharmacy Practice. The Managed Pharmacy Practice works with a broad cross section of clients whose total pharmacy spend is approximately $22 billion annually. He is based in Mercer’s Houston, Texas, office.

    Since joining Mercer, David has worked on a cross section of successful projects in the
    following areas:

    • Establishment and ongoing management of 2,000,000-plus member Pharmacy Aggregated
    • Purchasing Collective options
    • Led procurements and contract renegotiations for Pharmacy contracts for large and
    • midmarket companies
    • Merger and acquisition analysis, including provider consolidation and plan design
    • Rationalization

    David graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Economics. He also has an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia. He founded and was the first president of the Low Country Chapter of the National Association of Health Underwriters.

The good news from this year’s survey: employers expect to hold cost growth to a moderate 4% in 2019. The bad news: that’s faster growth than we’ve seen over the past couple of years, and the cost of benefits is still outpacing inflation and workers’ earnings growth.

Prescription drugs—specialty drugs in particular—remain a top cost driver and managing high-cost claims is again the number-one priority for employers. At the same time, in a tight labor market, offering an attractive benefit program is more important than ever.

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