According to Business Group on Health’s 2025 Health Care Strategy Survey, over the past 3 years cancer has remained the top condition driving cost. This trend is poised to continue with increasing rates of cancer in young people, an aging workforce, as well as widening disparities in cancer outcomes among historically marginalized populations. Moreover, the advent of innovative— albeit high-cost— cell and gene therapies for the treatment of cancer has the potential to add to affordability and access concerns.  

Benefits leaders are uniquely positioned to develop and implement initiatives that can address gaps in care and disparities in cancer-related outcomes. They can make these changes through strategic health and well-being benefit offerings that increase equitable access to evidence-based cancer screenings and treatments.  

Recent data showing cancer’s inequitable and widening disease burden highlights the need for targeted action. For example, breast cancer prevalence and mortality rates may be disproportionately high among certain demographics (e.g., Asian American and Black women). The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic also may have played a part in exacerbating existing inequities. In fact, findings from the Business Group’s 2025 survey indicate that 72% of employer respondents are currently seeing the impact of higher prevalence of cancer among their populations and another 16% anticipate seeing an impact in late 2024.  

While cancer survival rates are improving overall alongside advancements in oncology treatment efficacy and safety, unequal access to care resources and an aging workforce may continue to drive disparities. Employers, as health care purchasers, have the opportunity to leverage their market influence and push their partners to deploy targeted interventions that expand early screening and detection rates, identify care gaps which can improve access and better address existing health disparities in cancer outcomes.  

Employer Recommendations to Stay Ahead of The Curve

• Increase equitable access to preventive screenings: Design and offer comprehensive programs that include regular evidence-based cancer screenings, with a focus on targeting historically marginalized populations. This approach can help with early detection and improve survival rates for employees who otherwise wouldn’t receive care, which can then mitigate downstream financial implications for employers and further their health equity strategies.
• Provide culturally competent care: Work with your health plan, consultant and/or other health industry partners to increase providers in network that are trained in cultural competence and can better understand and address social determinants of health (SDOH), which can shape the unique needs of diverse employee populations as well as drive disparities.
• Enable targeted health communications: Work with health plan partners/vendors to develop and distribute educational materials that focus on the importance of preventive measures such as screenings and are accessible and relevant to various demographic groups. To promote engagement, consider various incentive-based strategies that take into account the particular needs and preferences of lower-income populations.