This also translates to the cost for labor. How much your company is paying for insurance seems to have little correlation to how good your insurance is, so Com

This also translates to the cost for labor. How much your company is paying for insurance seems to have little correlation to how good your insurance is, so Company A could be paying an extra $5k per employee because they don't have a good HR department. It also means that every job offer has to be examined not only for salary and culture, which are usually pretty easy to see; but also benefits cost. I've had offers that were an over 20% raise which would have all been eaten by insurance costs. I've looked at my "benefits cost breakdown" at similar companies only to see that one is paying $90k for me and one is only paying $70k, on similar salaries of around $60k. These insurance costs are not something usually shared outside the company, and they are hard to get until the last stages of your job offer.