A more rational phrasing may be: "I can buy insurance isolated from my employment, but I am priveleged to have the benefit and OPTION of taking advantage of employer benefits."
If i am freeing the employer of that burden....should that not reflect back on my compensation? Surely you dont mean the employer should then be able to save more and basically lower their compensation for employees and expect the same return?
There are plenty of packages on the open market that are generally better than what an employer offers. But you are essentially making extra sacrifices by opting out with no benefit to you and all the benefit of the company.
It would make more sense for a company to even offer a HSA where they contribute as much as they would to a plan to a savings account and allow the employee to also contribute their share pre-tax. And apply that to plans available on the open market.
>It would make more sense for a company to even offer a HSA where they contribute as much as they would to a plan to a savings account and allow the employee to also contribute their share pre-tax. And apply that to plans available on the open market.
Agreed
In most cases there is not an avenue to recover any lost compensation if you opt out of health insurance. If an employer offered a higher base pay for those not on their insurance plan, you probably WOULD see a much higher rate of those securing their own plans in the open market.