[RodgerTheGreat]

Say you or your dependents have a medical condition, and your health insurance is provided by your employer.

Your most powerful tool in negotiating with your employer is to threaten to resign. Even with COBRA, paying for your own health insurance can be a substantial burden for many people in the US. If resigning from your job poses substantial risks to your health and life, your employer holds all the cards.

A workforce that does not have mobility and security in the essentials of life creates negative externalities for society as a whole. If workers are unable to leave or report workplaces containing unethical or illegal behavior out of concern for their lives, that unethical or illegal behavior is tacitly rewarded with competitive advantage for the business.

[MuffinFlavored]

> Even with COBRA

Why are COBRA prices as crazy as they are? I pay $200/mo for medical insurance, yet COBRA quoted me $800/mo+ I believe.

[rpiguy]

That is what your employer paid for your insurance. You might be able to get a cheaper plan on Obamacare/ACA. Companies pay large portion of your insurance that you never see. COBRA brings it all to light.

There is a movement to count medical benefits as income, which would shed light on this (in fact that was part of Obamacare/ACA, but politicians keep putting it off because they know no wants to pay taxes on their healthcare...)

[bcrosby95]

Yeah, I would be more fine with employer provided healthcare if people had to pay taxes on it.

I work at a small company and around the ACA times they told us they were weighing their options: removing healthcare benefits with a corresponding bump in pay (including tax ramifications), or keeping healthcare. At the time they let us know what they were paying, and it was a shitload - something like $18k/year for my family of 3.

They ended up keeping healthcare. And now I have a family of 5. No clue what they pay, but I'm sure it's a ton.