Is there ever going to be a replacement to employer-sponsored healthcare?

Editor’s note: This post is co-written with Stacy Edgar, founder of Venteur. I sometimes invite people to write with me, usually because they’re an expert on the topic. But to do so authentically and without bias. You may have noticed that I’ve been switching on more of my posts to paid. I kept this one free because it was such a labor of love! if you found it useful, please consider subscribing because that’s what makes it possible for me to keep doing this work. A heartfelt thank you to those who have already subscribed. It means the world to me.

Back in my journalism days, I have this very distinct memory of sitting down with a health plan executive and asking how much I was likely paying a year in health care premiums for my health insurance. They told me that the average was about $8000 for individuals and $23,000 for families.

The following day, I emailed my head of Human Resources and asked if I could get my $8,000 back so I could spend it acquiring my own coverage on the Covered California marketplace. I figured I could find something more affordable that would suit my own needs, given that I generally wasn’t a heavy utilizer of health care services. I was the kind of patient who sometimes skipped their annual physical, and I could have used the money.