How Benefits Leaders Are Rethinking Cost, Care, and Trust

When annual attrition runs high, the math on GLP-1 coverage stops working. Long-term ROI walks out the door at the same rate the workforce does, and the spend never recovers.

Steve Reszczynski of Global Medical Response and Courtney Rodriquez of MarketStar both run benefits for high-turnover workforces where the GLP-1 question lands harder than it does on most plans, and both have spent the past several years rebuilding their programs in the wake of COVID. However, what they are working against looks very different. Steve's employees are spread across all 50 states, much of it rural and roughly half union, while Courtney's are young and largely new to coverage, so her team had to start by teaching people what a deductible is before it could teach them how to find a quality doctor.

Global Medical Response does not currently cover GLP-1s for weight loss. With annual attrition over 30%, the long-term ROI on expensive pharmacy coverage largely follows the employees out the door. MarketStar, on the other hand, covers GLP-1s but is actively re-examining whether continuing that coverage is financially responsible given similar turnover dynamics. Neither has a clean answer, and the math does not work until someone figures out how to make the cost manageable.

What makes either approach defensible is the broker relationship behind it. The advisors who hold up in this conversation are the ones who deliver real recommendations, not the ones who deliver safety. Cost control and member experience are not opposing forces. They become enemies only when the conversation treats them that way, and that usually traces back to a relationship that cannot survive an honest answer.

Watch Steve Reszczynski and Courtney Rodriquez talk through what benefits leaders are prioritizing heading into 2026. From navigating cost pressures to rebuilding employee trust in the healthcare system, they share insights from the front lines of benefits strategy and offer a grounded view of what's actually working, and what's not.