The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance: Why It's Good for You and Your Company

Chapter 1The Disadvantages of Employer-Provided Health Insurance

Don't despair as you start to read this chapter about the problems with employer-provided health insurance. Beginning with Chapter 2, this book is about a solution that you can take advantage of immediately.

Employer-provided health insurance is insurance provided by employers and offered to employees and dependents of employees. The premium cost is typically split between the employer and employee, with the employee typically paying all or most of the cost to add their dependents to the employer plan. With employer-provided health insurance, the risk is spread over the employees in the company who participate in the employer-provided plan and the premiums typically increase every year based on the previous year's healthcare costs of the group.

Healthcare costs now consume almost one-sixth of America's economy, and, during your lifetime, medical and health insurance costs are likely to be your largest or second-largest expense after housing. Your employer-provided health insurance is arguably the number one threat to your financial future.

Most Americans get health insurance from their employers and never think too much about it until they or a family member develops a serious health problem. That's when they first learn the details of their health insurance benefits, which medical providers they can use, and what their out-of-pocket expenses will be. The term insurance in employer-provided health insurance is ...