SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 22 January 2025 – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm, has released its 2025 Global Medical Trend Rates Report. The report forecasts a projected 11.1 percent rise in the Asia Pacific region (APAC), which is higher than the global projected increase for 2024 of 9.7 percent, which represented the highest increase forecasted in 10 years.
Trend rate figures represent the percentage increase in medical plan costs per employee – both insured and self-insured. Knowing estimated costs in advance can help organisations budget and adjust their benefits philosophy in response, ensuring programs are sustainable.
This year’s report projects APAC will experience the second highest year-over-year trend rate increase after the Middle East and Africa, which has the highest trend rate of any region at 15.5 percent.
“The biggest rise in medical utilisation and inflation are now behind us in APAC, but recovery in insurer profitability is expected to keep medical trend rates in the double digits for 2025 and 2026,“ said Alan Oates, head of global benefits for Asia Pacific at Aon.
“The high medical trend rate can also be attributed to a higher incidence of cancer and chronic conditions than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Managing the impact of medical inflation therefore should be a top priority for all southeast Asia markets and especially important in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam, which are seeing 50 to over 100 percent increases compared to last year,“ Oates explained.
The survey further revealed that prescription and specialty medications, including weight loss medication, innovations in medical technology, and geopolitical factors, are significantly impacting medical trend rates in APAC and around the world. In addition, support for emotional health as the fastest-growing claim in Aon’s APAC client portfolio, wellbeing initiatives designed to mitigate stress, along with other plan enhancements, are also contributing to the double-digit medical trend.
