One in three companies worldwide 'actively considering alternative global benefits financing arrangements': report
The Asia-Pacific region will see a 1.4% increase in average medical trend rate this year, the highest hike reported worldwide, according to Aon's 2025 Global Medical Trend Rate report.
The increase brings APAC's projected medical trend rate to 11.1%, up from the 9.7% in 2024.
"The increase in trend is being driven by 50 to 100+ per cent increases in trend rates versus last year in a few markets, namely New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, and Vietnam," the report states.
The second-highest increase is reported in North America, which is comprised of Canada and the United States, with a 1.2% increase to bring the average medical trend rate to 8.8%.
The Middle East and Africa region is also projected to see an increase of 0.4% to reach the average medical trend rate of 15.5% in 2025.
Globally, the average medical trend rate this year is expected to be 10%, slightly below the decade-high 10.1% reported a year ago, according to the report.
"The second consecutive year of double-digit medical trend is the result of a mixed bag of changes in the expected medical trend rate across the regions, with three regions predicting an increase and the other two predicting a decrease, resulting in almost the same global trend rate as 2024," the report states.
The two regions that are anticipating a decrease this year are Latin America and the Caribbean (10.7%), as well as Europe (8.9%).
The increase in medical trend rates in some regions comes as health and wellbeing costs are becoming an important concern for organisations year-over-year.
In fact, cost management is one of the top three objectives for global benefits teams across markets, says the report.
"These rising rates often bring unexpected or unbudgeted cost increases and make affordability for employers and employees more difficult.”
To mitigate these costs, the report said one in three companies worldwide is "actively considering alternative global benefits financing arrangements."
Another 35% of companies are also prioritising data analysis of their disability and health claims data to understand trends and support targeted and measurable interventions.
"At the local country level, companies looking to mitigate these increased costs are using a familiar set of strategies that are unchanged from last year but increasingly becoming more prevalent," the report states.
Aon's 2025 Global Medical Trend Rates Report covered 112 markets. Look at the average medical trend rates data at the country level by clicking this link.
