Health Barometer 2025: what HR needs to know about the first 8 months of the year

Employee health 2025: prevention takes root, but so does budgetary vigilance. Are you ready?

Between controlled inflation, sustainable growth in well-being and budgetary trade-offs, employee health behaviors continue to evolve.
Gerep unveils the results of its 2025 health barometer, based on 140,000 beneficiaries covered by group health plans.
A useful read for understanding the new balances between prevention, purchasing power and quality of life at work (QWL).

+3.7% increase in reimbursements by 2025: growth stabilizes, but habits change

Over the period January-August 2025 :

• Compulsory plans rose by +4.3%,
• Optional plans were down -4.9%.

The overall increase in reimbursements exceeds the increase in average actual costs per insured person, reflecting a strengthening of coverage over the period under review.
The main reason for this is the rise in average cost per benefit, up +5.6%.

Consultations and routine care: rising costs

Medical consultations rose sharply by +10.5%, while pharmacy expenditure continued to grow at a steady pace (+7%).
These two items are the main contributors to the overall rise in reimbursements.

Other positions are evolving differently:

• Optical sales were down (-1.1%),
• Hearing aid sales are slowing sharply (+2.6% after +22% in 2024),
• Hospitalization saw a fall in actual costs (-15%), accompanied by a slight increase in the frequency of use (+5.4%).

These movements reflect varying dynamics depending on the type of care, with no major break in relation to 2024.

Mental health and well-being: now part of everyday life

The figures speak for themselves:

• Psychologist services: +16.6
• Wellness package: +3.5
• Medical auxiliaries (physiotherapists, speech therapists, etc.): +4.3%.

These advances reflect a genuine cultural change: well-being is no longer perceived as a luxury, but as a normal component of the health path.
Employees are taking ownership of the facilities available to them, and investing more in prevention, mental health and life balance.

For HR departments, it's an opportunity: promoting these guarantees and services in internal communications reinforces the image of a responsible employer and helps reduceabsenteeism.

100% Health continues to grow, especially in dental care

Four years after its launch, the 100% Santé program is now up and running.
In these first 8 months, it has been widely mobilized for dental prostheses, proving that policyholders are taking it on board.
In the hearing sector, the spectacular rise observed in 2024 (+22%) is giving way to a stabilization (+2.6%).

These results confirm that employees now know how to choose the most effective solutions to limit their out-of-pocket expenses, a reflex that should be encouraged in HR awareness campaigns.

Why do these trends matter to you, HR?

Data from the 2025 barometer can be used to :

• Supporting new expectations: mental health and prevention are becoming social and managerial priorities. Promoting them means meeting the expectations of younger generations and building team loyalty.
• Controlling budgets: understanding where and why costs evolve gives you the means to negotiate your contracts effectively, rather than suffering from medical inflation.

Which levers to activate?

In the face of rising costs, there are several ways of containing inflation while maintaining a high level of service:

• Promote healthcare networks: to benefit from negotiated rates and limit out-of-pocket expenses.
• Encouraging the use of 100% Healthcare: a concrete lever for equity and savings.
• Raising employees' awareness: choosing a doctor who adheres to the DPTAM(Dispositif de Pratique Tarifaire Maîtrisée) scheme, comparing quotations, knowing your cover... all reflexes that make a difference.
• Keeping track of consumption indicators: continuous monitoring helps to anticipate deviations and preserve financial equilibrium.

Highlights of the 2025 health barometer

• The rise in reimbursements continues (+3.7%), but remains under control.
• Employees are consulting more and better, with greater emphasis on prevention.
• Mental well-being is establishing itself as a lasting pillar of health in the workplace.
• 100% Healthcare is reaching maturity, especially in the dental sector.
• For companies, the key remains medium-term management, based on data and prevention.

And tomorrow?

New reforms will further change the landscape:

• Extension of 100% health coverage to hair prostheses and wheelchairs
• Increased coverage of oral health care for young people
• Arrival of frenative lenses for myopia in children

We need to keep a close eye on these changes to adapt your guarantees and HR communications.

Need a personalized decryption?

Our teams can help you analyze your data, manage your contracts and design a healthcare strategy in line with your HR challenges.