because the money previously spent on premiums would be included in workers’ compensation.
Insurance would stop following the job. It would follow the person.
For Democrats, the appeal is obvious: broader access to affordable coverage and a stronger individual insurance market.
For Republicans, the argument is equally straightforward: workers receive their compensation directly, individuals choose their own plans, and employers no longer act as insurance middlemen.
The policy does not expand government control of healthcare. It shifts insurance ownership to the individual.
The machinist at the kitchen table would no longer wait for an HR memo to learn what coverage he has this year. He would choose it himself, the same way he chooses a mortgage, a phone plan, or a retirement account. And if he decides to change jobs, start a business, or move across the country, his insurance would move with him.
Instead of building an entirely new health system, the country could begin by moving money that is already there—money currently routed through employers before it ever reaches the worker.
Because the quiet truth buried inside the American health system is simple:
The benefit was never really the company’s.
It was the worker’s money all along.
Addendum I
Why the System Could Work
The central idea behind this proposal is not to create a massive new federal program but to redirect an existing subsidy.
Employer-sponsored insurance receives large tax advantages. Because premiums are excluded from taxable income, both employers and employees avoid paying income and payroll taxes on those benefits.
Economists broadly agree that these costs ultimately come out of wages. When employers spend more on health insurance, workers tend to receive less in cash compensation.
Redirecting the subsidy toward individuals rather than employers would allow the ACA marketplace to expand into the primary insurance system for working-age Americans.
Medicare and Medicaid would remain unchanged, preserving coverage for seniors and low-income households while making insurance portable for everyone else.
Workers would keep their insurance when they change jobs. Entrepreneurs could start businesses without risking their family’s coverage.