Employers eye shifting health care needs during pandemic

By TOM MURPHY
AP Health Writer

Health care costs rise every year, but the nation’s biggest employers still see insurance coverage as an important benefit to provide. They just struggle getting the health care system to deliver what their workers need, according to Elizabeth Mitchell, CEO of the Purchaser Business Group on Health. Mitchell’s nonprofit coalition works with some of the country’s largest employers on the benefits they provide. Big companies are adjusting to how those needs have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. They want to improve mental health care going forward and find the right balance for telemedicine and in-person care.