The cost per employee for benefits is definitely a key reason why full time / full benefits wages have stayed relatively level. It's been hidden as well since f

The cost per employee for benefits is definitely a key reason why full time / full benefits wages have stayed relatively level. It's been hidden as well since folks don't normally understand how much their employer has to pay for their benefits. The book Catastrophic Care by Goldhill has a good take on this in my opinion. That said - there is a reason to be optimistic about all of this. If this demand pressures pushes to increase wages it might provide enough of an incentive to create room for real reform here, as well as transparency around what is happening with benefits that could spur longer-term cost control fixes.