[smartstakestime]

you can buy your own health insurance. This is like saying that because you dont get free lunch anymore that losing your job is "life threatening". Somebody has to pay for it. This liberal mindset of "make rich guy pay" is at its core lazy and selfish.

I think that the health industry itself is a scam, and over priced by bureaucracy but that doesnt mean that another person should take your burden. Your health is your responsibility not your employers.

Employers shouldn't be playing health insurance because that shouldn't be necessary. Minimum wage should cover basic care. Either minimum wage is too low or basic care is too high. We kinda take care of this through taxes but its a bandaid on a corrupt overpriced monopoly industry.

[JoeAltmaier]

In this climate you can't buy your own - its 3X the cost and not subsidized by your employer makes it worse.

But I agree the connection between health insurance and employment is artificial. I'd rather see some basic universal health, plus a market for better plans.

[jcranmer]

If you get health insurance via your employer, the value of that health insurance is not considered income, and is tax-free. If you pay for it yourself, you get no tax benefits for doing so.

That kind of skews incentives a fair amount.

[gregkerzhner]

This is not true (at least if you are a contractor or are self employed). You deduct your health insurance premiums (and all sorts of other expenses like home office) as business expenses. After that’s done you pay tax on the rest. source - I’ve been contracting for 6 years and buying my own insurance.