As employers face mounting pressure from rising health care costs, Hausmann Group’s Mike Schiewer joined local industry experts to discuss what businesses can do differently.
Health care costs continue to climb for employers and employees alike, creating difficult decisions about how organizations can offer meaningful benefits while keeping their plans financially sustainable.
That challenge was the focus of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s recent Table of Experts: Urgent Care Needed panel discussion. Mike Schiewer, Corporate Benefits Consultant and Sales Leader at Hausmann Group, joined Justin Jasniewski, CEO of Serve You Rx, and Brian Marsella, president of HPS/PayMedix and TempoPay. Beth Kerstein, vice president of human resources at MRA, moderated the conversation.
Together, the panel explored some of the forces reshaping employer-sponsored health care, from rising prescription drug costs and GLP-1 coverage to direct primary care, alternative funding arrangements, employee affordability and employers’ fiduciary responsibilities.
Employers have more options than they may realize
One point came through clearly in Schiewer’s perspective: employers don’t have to simply accept the status quo.
For example, when discussing the rapid growth and cost of GLP-1 medications, Schiewer outlined several ways employers can approach coverage based on the needs of their organization and employees. He also emphasized the importance of pairing access to these medications with meaningful support from dietitians and specialists who can help employees use them effectively.
Direct primary care was another area where Schiewer encouraged employers to take a closer look. By giving employees more time with primary care providers and helping guide patients toward appropriate, lower-cost settings for services such as imaging and procedures, these models may provide opportunities to improve the employee experience while addressing costs.
The larger lesson is one we see frequently in our work with clients: there is rarely a single solution to a complicated benefits challenge. Employers need to understand what is driving their own plan, explore the options available to them and build a strategy around their people and business.
Advocacy matters beyond renewal
The panel also addressed a part of health care that can sometimes get lost in conversations about plan design: what happens when employees actually need to use their benefits.
Schiewer discussed the financial challenges employees can encounter when health systems require significant deductible payments before receiving care. His recommendation for employers was practical: make sure employee advocacy is built into the solution their broker provides.
That means the broker relationship shouldn’t begin and end at renewal.
For Hausmann Group, that idea reflects our broader approach to benefits: combining a proven process with a human approach and helping clients navigate both the big-picture strategy and the everyday challenges their people encounter. The company’s Milwaukee strategy similarly emphasizes pairing a formalized Blueprint process with an approachable, locally rooted partnership.
Stay curious
When asked what Milwaukee Business Journal readers should take away from the discussion, Schiewer offered straightforward advice: “Be curious.”
He encouraged employers to evaluate their broker relationships and make sure their partners are continually looking for ways to improve their plans, rather than accepting rising costs as inevitable.
That curiosity is especially important as prescription pricing, funding strategies, care delivery and employer responsibilities continue to change. Employers may not be able to control every factor pushing health care costs higher, but with the right information and partners, they can make more informed decisions about what comes next.
We’re proud to have Mike representing Hausmann Group in this important conversation, and we appreciate the perspectives Justin Jasniewski, Brian Marsella, and Beth Kerstein brought to the table.
Read the full Milwaukee Business Journal Table of Experts discussion here: https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2026/11/06/table-experts-urgent-care-needed.html
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