[drozycki]

You seem to think that healthcare is just like any other fringe benefit that employers and employees may mutually agree to in the employment market. But the US has a (deeply flawed) form of “universal healthcare” where the employer is required to provide the benefit. This mandate goes back to the New Deal era when capitalists were willing to accept such provisions if it allowed them to avoid a communist revolution, which was in fashion at the time. The mandate has been reaffirmed more recently with the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare. So the story is not a sign that benefits are working, but that there are loopholes being exploited.

[astrange]

Aren't we talking about Medicaid and food stamps here? Middle class health insurance is indeed an employer subsidy in the US (and it's bad), but Medicaid isn't.

Part of the reason we still have this system is that unions like being able to provide healthcare as a benefit though.

[drozycki]

The spirit of the policy as understood by most is that employers pay most of the cost of healthcare for their employees, middle class or not. So it comes as a surprise to learn that Medicaid, a program meant for children, the disabled and unemployed, is covering the benefit for employees at taxpayer expense. Amazon can’t have it both ways: lower corporate taxes based on the assumption that they directly provide health care, and the benefit of offloading the health care burden to the state. Can you see why people are concerned about this?