Employee Benefits, Rising Healthcare Costs, and the Business Case for Prevention with Chris Kerwood

CONNECT WITH JESSI ON LINKEDIN >>> HERE!Employee benefits are not just a recruiting tool.They are one of the places where healthcare costs, prevention, mental health, productivity, employee education, and workplace culture all intersect.In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Chris Kerwood of USI to talk about employee benefits, rising healthcare costs, preventive care, mental health, population health, insurance trends, and what employers need to understand about the real cost of employee well-being.Chris explains why healthcare costs are rising, including delayed care after COVID, increased utilization, pharmaceutical costs, GLP-1s, gene therapies, provider negotiations, hospital margins, and even AI upcoding. He also breaks down why employees need to better understand their own benefits — especially preventive care, which is often covered at 100%.Jessi and Chris also dive into workplace mental health, including the post-COVID rise in mental health concerns, the financial impact of mental health-related productivity loss, the elevated risk in construction and blue-collar industries, and what strong organizations do differently to support their people.In this episode, Jessi and Chris discuss:How Chris’s background as a student athlete shaped his work ethic and careerWhat USI does as a full-service insurance brokerageWhy healthcare costs are rising for employers and employeesHow delayed care after COVID is still affecting claims and utilizationWhy GLP-1s, biosimilars, and gene therapies are reshaping benefits conversationsWhat employees misunderstand about preventive careWhy people should actually read their plan summariesHow AI is affecting healthcare billing and codingWhy employers are exploring high deductible health plans, HMOs, and alternative funding strategiesWhat employers need to understand about mental health as a benefits and productivity issueWhy construction is a high-risk industry for suicide preventionWhat strong organizations do to create connection, purpose, and peer supportThis episode is for HR leaders, benefits professionals, executives, business owners, brokers, safety leaders, and anyone trying to understand how employee health affects the bottom line.Because benefits are not just about coverage.They are about prevention, access, culture, and whether people can actually get the support they need.CONNECT WITH [email protected]