Yes and it was a mistake in my opinion. It make employees feel that the company is paying for these benefits and it makes the company believe that they are spending money for things they should not (I've heard so many CEOs complaining about having to pay "all those taxes for their employees"). I prefer a way where the employee is responsible for all costs with a deduction at the source to make sure you don't get nasty surprises at the end of the year. In term of numbers that's all the same, not in term of psychology.

Incentives and human responses are endlessly weird and interesting.

Sure