Late to this thread, but what sibling comments fail to mention is that employer-provided healthcare also benefits from a tax advantage: healthcare benefits are

Late to this thread, but what sibling comments fail to mention is that employer-provided healthcare also benefits from a tax advantage: healthcare benefits are paid for with before-tax money and are not taxed as income. So a middle-salary employee is looking at a 25% increase in healthcare costs due to paying with after-tax money.