When I joined Business NH Magazine 25 years ago, the number one challenge facing employers, no matter what industry they were in, was the high cost of health care. Ironically, in recent years and despite the pandemic, health care didn’t even crack the top three concerns, trailing the lack of skilled workers, affordable housing and child care.
But the cost of health care is quickly rising back as a top issue. As I write this we are entering week three of the government shutdown as politicians battle over whether to extend health care tax credits and prevent health insurance premiums from further skyrocketing.
According to the NH Health Cost Initiative, several factors contribute to ballooning health care costs, including rising prices for medical services and medications, hospital mergers, administrative inefficiencies, a lack of transparency in billing practices, a shortage of health care workers, and an aging population.
As you will read in this issue, the home health industry is reaching a crisis point: Demand for services is outstripping supply due to a shortage of workers and rising costs.
So what to do? The NH Health Cost Initiative is advocating for increasing investment in primary care, creating an oversight board to analyze the health care industry and identify cost drivers, expanding consumer protections, and developing a long-term health care vision for the state.
If you need help making sense of NH’s complex health care landscape, join Business NH Magazine at the NH Health Care Forum on Nov. 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at The Derryfield in Manchester.
The forum will feature three panels: Loneliness and Mental Health in the Workplace, Health Fraud, and the State of Health Care Costs in NH. Panelists will include Jennice Chewlin of Chewlin Group; Maggie Pritchard of Lakes Region Mental Health Center and NH Community Behavioral Health Association; Susan Stearns of NAMI NH; Nicole Sublette of Therapists of Color New England; Amy Crafts of Sheehan Phinney; Steve Ahnen of the NH Hospital Association; Jason Aziz of the NH Insurance Department; Mark Galvin of Talon; Lucy Hodder of the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law and of the NH Health Cost Initiative; and Maria Proulx of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in NH.
These experts will help you make sense of the health care challenges facing employers in NH.
