Why Is Health Insurance Linked To Employment? 
Health insurance became linked to employment during World War 2 . There was a freeze on wages , and employers began offering health insurance as a means of differentiating themselves to attract and retain employees . The health insurance premiums were considered taxable expenses , so offering benefits provided a structural advantage to employers . As premiums costs rose over time employers passed more of the premium costs over to employees . Any contribution towards premiums made by employees are able to be paid using pretax elections , which continued the tax-based structural advantage to employment based benefits . 