Why Is Health Insurance Employer Based? 
Great question ! The benefits package was designed to attract and keep the better employee . Often , when pay rates are the same the addition of benefits , like health insurance , would be the difference between whom you chose to work for . Unfortunately , I think that over the next few years you will see more and more employers push their employees towards the Government marketplace by reducing or eliminating their offering of insurance coverage . By doing this , they will tell you that you will be getting a `` bigger paycheck '' while transferring the company 's expense and risk to you , the employee . I read recently that there were conservative estimates of trillions of dollars of profit for companies in this move , so I ca n't see them waiting too long to make that happen . In some cases , it will be cheaper for the employee , but no one is certain what percentage of the workforce will benefit . Thanks for asking ! 