>It's something that made sense when it started but is now obsolete and seriously detrimental to the modern workforce. It didn't even make sense when it starte

>It's something that made sense when it started but is now obsolete and seriously detrimental to the modern workforce. It didn't even make sense when it started. In the 30s the US government instituted wage controls in a misguided attempt to fight the depression, so because businesses weren't allowed to pay workers more (there was a government-mandated wage ceiling), they started offering health insurance to attract them instead. It's a classic example of the negative second-order effects of economically unsound policy.