[ajmurmann]

They can just give you that money instead.

The current situation is even worse than it might seem: Employers must provide the same plan options to all employees. A high-earner might prefer a more premium plan over a barbones, catastrophic coverage-only plan while a low-earner at the same company might prefer the extra cash in their pocket. Even if some of the cost of the premium plans is forwarded to the employee the cost to the employer is still higher and they must price that case into their calculation of the overall comp package. The market is more competitive, by definition for high-earners. So the employer will offer plans that cater to them. But this cost still impacts the comp package of the low earner. For many years this dynamic has eaten up most raises to take home pay got low income earners. See: https://www.econtalk.org/mark-warshawsky-on-compensation-hea...