Is it because of tax benefits or something similar? If so, couldnt the government provide the same tax benefits to individuals to make healthcare insurance more affordable to everyone?
disclaimer: I am not from the US
In: Other
Employers benefit massively from the existing system, so why would they stop using it?
First – it forces employees to stay with the employer, generally the longer you work at one place the more efficient (and thus profitable) you become. By holding benefits over your head, companies are able to make it much more difficult to leave
Second – if they were to “just pay you”, people would realize how little companies pay for insurance and how much of the burden of insurance is shifted to the individual. Most small to med companies are paying 50% or less of the health benefits for their workers anyway, and most larger ones are getting huge discounts on their portion while passing increases onto the employees… so to pay a “go find it yourself” wage increase would cost the company much more
Third – Taxes – employers pay taxes based on wages paid to employees, they do not pay these taxes on health care benefits, so it is cheaper for employers by a LOT to offer benefits as a perk. For example – Social Security tax is 6.2% of the wage of a worker, Medicare is another 1.45. So for every 1.00 paid to an employee, it costs at least 1.075 to the company… every 1.00 they pay to benefits actually costs much less (based on their tax situation)
so basically, like everything else in the US… why is this a thing still? because 95% of the benefit goes directly to the .1% of richest Americans who decide our laws
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