The amount paid by an employer for its employees' benefits is much smaller than the sum of what all employees would have to pay for the same benefits if they were to sign up as individuals.
Employers (ie a group of employees) go through a broker to get benefits. The broker (ie a group of employers) goes to insurance carriers to get good prices for benefits. There is power in numbers.
In principle I completely agree with you, it drives me nuts to change my benefits every time I change my employment, but it would take a while for the "invisible hand" to do its job. If tomorrow, employers start giving employees the cash they spend on benefits, there would be a massive gap in premium that employees would need to cover.
This is why we need a public option for health care. There is no reason the price of healthcare should change if you lose/switch your job (you could be buying in to the same insurance plan).
It’s an accident of US labor rights history that benefits are so tightly coupled to the employer; most other developed countries don’t do it like this and get more favorable prices for similar coverage quality.
Employers (ie a group of employees) go through a broker to get benefits. The broker (ie a group of employers) goes to insurance carriers to get good prices for benefits. There is power in numbers.
In principle I completely agree with you, it drives me nuts to change my benefits every time I change my employment, but it would take a while for the "invisible hand" to do its job. If tomorrow, employers start giving employees the cash they spend on benefits, there would be a massive gap in premium that employees would need to cover.