Employer Sponsored Health Insurance - What Does The Future Hold?

The article “Who Gets Employer-Based Health Insurance” by Catherine Rampell in the NYTimes Economix, has some great information on the issue of the health insurance debate going on in Washington, DC. They are trying to decide what to do with employer-based health insurance. The US is one of the only countries where losing your job translates to losing your health insurance. That is why individual health insurance is often a better choice. That is also a reason the government is looking towards revamping the health care system.

According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation report on health-care benefits, not all companies have the benefit of health insurance for its employees. Smaller companies often cannot afford to offer any kind of health insurance benefit. Companies that do offer health insurance usually do not cover the full cost. The remaining cost comes out of the employee's paycheck. A small number of companies do offer to pay for the full cost of the health insurance policy.

Many Americans are extremely comfortable with employer-based health insurance and do not want to see it go away. This leads Congress to consider a health care plan that still includes the employee-based health insurance concept.