For Marine Benefits clients, the clearest regional focus is Asia-Pacific and Europe. These are the two regions where a large share of our member population is concentrated, and both regions have experienced persistent healthcare cost pressure since 2018.

To understand how these trends affect clients, Marine Benefits analysed its own claims experience from 2018 to 2025 and compared it with Aon’s regional medical trend data over the same period. Aon defines medical trend as the predicted annual percentage increase in the cost of treating patients and providing healthcare services, including inflation, service utilisation, prescription drug costs and advances in medical technology.

Regional Inflation Comparison

The table below compares Aon’s average regional medical trend rates from 2018 to 2025 with Marine Benefits’ claims inflation over the same period. This creates a more like-for-like comparison than using only recent market forecasts. Marine Benefits figures are based on average claim costs among members who actively utilised their insurance cover.

Region	Aon average annual medical trend 2018-2025	MB claims average annual inflation 2018-2025
Asia-Pacific	9.1%	5.0%
Europe	7.0%	4.3%

Sources: Aon Global Medical Trend Rates reporting for 2018-2025. Aon figures represent gross regional medical trend rates. Marine Benefits figures represent historical annual claims inflation from 2018 to 2025 and are therefore used as a directional comparison against regional market medical trend.

What the Data Tells Us

The most important finding is that general healthcare inflation and insurance claims inflation are not necessarily the same thing. Healthcare inflation measures the overall increase in healthcare costs within a market. Claims inflation reflects the actual increase in costs experienced within a specific insurance programme.

In Asia-Pacific, Aon’s average regional medical trend rate from 2018 to 2025 was approximately 9.1%. Marine Benefits’ historical claims inflation over the same period was significantly lower, at approximately 5.0%. This is particularly relevant because Asia-Pacific has remained one of the higher medical inflation regions globally.

In Europe, Aon’s average regional medical trend rate from 2018 to 2025 was approximately 7.0%. Marine Benefits’ historical claims inflation was approximately 4.5%. While the difference is narrower than in Asia-Pacific, the Marine Benefits average inflation remained below the regional market trend over the same period.

Why the Difference?

A common misconception is that insurance claims costs will automatically increase at the same rate as healthcare inflation. In practice, many claims contain elements that can be actively managed. Examples include unnecessary diagnostics, treatment at higher-cost facilities when equally suitable alternatives are available, excessive provider charging, duplicate billing and treatment pathways that are not aligned with established medical guidelines.

Market inflation may be driven by rising provider fees, higher treatment costs and increased utilisation. However, the extent to which those increases affect insurance costs depends on how actively a programme is managed. This is where cost containment plays a critical role.

How Marine Benefits Helps Control Costs

Marine Benefits focuses on several key areas to help moderate the impact of medical inflation:

• Bespoke benefit design tailored to each client’s workforce profile, crew composition, claims patterns and operational requirements.
• Active medical review to ensure treatments are necessary, appropriate and cost-effective.
• Provider management to challenge excessive charges and improve cost transparency.
• Pre-authorisation controls for medium and higher-cost procedures and treatments.
• Claims analytics identify emerging cost drivers, unusual utilisation patterns and potential abuse.
• Network optimisation to guide treatment towards suitable and cost-effective providers.
• Early intervention and case management to prevent smaller claims from developing into major costs.

These measures are not about restricting access to healthcare. They are designed to ensure that treatment is appropriate, medically justified and delivered at a reasonable cost.

Looking Ahead

Healthcare inflation is expected to remain a major challenge for employers. Aon’s 2026 Global Medical Trend Rates Report projects gross medical trend of 11.3% for Asia-Pacific and 8.2% for Europe in 2026, compared with a global average of 9.8%.

Our experience from 2018 to 2025 demonstrates that rising healthcare costs do not have to translate directly into equivalent increases in insurance costs. Through active medical management, provider oversight, data-driven decision making and early intervention, Marine Benefits has consistently helped clients moderate the effects of rising healthcare costs.

Over time, relatively small annual differences in claims inflation can have a significant cumulative effect. A health insurance programme experiencing 10% annual inflation will see costs more than double in approximately seven years. At 5%, costs increase by only around 40% over the same period. This illustrates why effective cost containment can have a meaningful impact on long-term premium sustainability.

At Marine Benefits, our objective is simple: to help clients maintain sustainable, affordable and high-quality healthcare benefits, even in an environment where medical inflation shows no sign of slowing down.

Sources

• Aon, Global Medical Trend Rates reporting, 2018-2026 regional medical trend data.
• Marine Benefits internal claims analysis, 2018-2025.

Thomas Fjeldbonde
President, Marine Benefits, Inc.