Can Obamacare Handle The Great Resignation?

American workers who are becoming their own bosses may be gaining new financial freedom but they’re losing a big advantage of having a 9 to 5: Health insurance benefits.

Many Americans turn to the Obamacare Marketplace to find an insurance plan, but there’s some concern about whether the options available on the exchanges are sufficient for most Americans. Watch the video above to learn if Obamacare can support for this influx of uninsured Americans.

Workers are quitting their jobs in record numbers – part of what is now called The Great Resignation. Around 4 million workers have quit each month between July and November 2021.

Erica Leman had maintained a side hustle as a wedding photographer for 12 years. Like millions of other Americans, Leman, who was working in higher education, took the pandemic as a sign to make a career change.

"We had one pandemic, what's the chances of it happening again, during my lifetime?" Leman said. "The worst that could happen is that I go back to a job. That's not the end of the world."

American workers who are becoming their own bosses may be gaining new financial freedom, but they're losing a big advantage: health insurance benefits. More than 54% of Americans had insurance through their employer in 2020, according to U.S. Census data.

One in three insured workers would consider leaving jobs if health insurance weren't a factor, according to Policygenius' November 2021 Health Insurance Literacy Survey. "The Great Resignation might be even greater if it weren't for the way our health insurance system is constituted," said Myles Ma, senior managing editor at Policygenius.

That anxiety was certainly true for Leman. "One of the reasons that I almost never considered leaving a staff position until recently was because of health insurance," she said.

Many Americans who need health insurance turn to the Obamacare marketplace to find a plan, and amid the recent surge in resignations, the Biden administration announced that sign ups hit an all-time high in December 2021.

But some Americans find the exchanges difficult to navigate and say they struggled to find a suitable plan at a price they could afford.

Seventy-one percent of uninsured Americans who decided not to get coverage either from a private insurer or through the marketplace said they didn't end up buying a plan because it was too expensive, according to a 2020 survey by the Commonwealth Fund.

Leman also turned to the marketplace to find a plan but realized none of the offerings fit her needs. "There were so many options, and all of them seem just kind of like a lot of money for not a lot of support," she said.

"There are significant limitations in marketplace plan coverage that you can't easily see," said Karen Pollitz, senior fellow for health reform and private insurance at Kaiser Family Foundation. "The coverage [may be] meaningfully different from what you may have been used to from your job."

While the pandemic may have helped spur the Great Resignation, it also brought about new legislation that could make an insurance policy from the marketplace more affordable for most Americans. But only 30% of people are aware that you can get financial aid to pay for their plans.

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Can Obamacare Handle The Great Resignation?

[ShadowRaptor]

I've been saying for years that health insurance being tied to employment is the biggest travesty of our current system. It makes it nearly impossible for insurance plans to be competitive with each other, and makes starting a business or leaving a job so much harder. Wish we had a true free market system where you could buy health insurance like car insurance, across state lines and separate from your job. Or single payer, which honestly I feel is more likely than banning employer based healthcare

[xammendoza]

Wow, what a hustle. Here in the UK, if you go unemployed, 100% you're still covered health wise. That is a nightmare thinking losing a job will also lose your health care.

[signupstuff]

Decades ago when I started my first job, two of my co-workers were in their late 50s barely earning much more than me. Why were they there? "We're only here for the health insurance" they both told me. And that hasn't changed. You want to see a real Great Resignation? - offer health insurance for ~the same price as people pay when employed. The way health insurance works right now shackles people to their jobs.

[JustinKenward]

As someone who was part of The Great Resignation I can tell you that medical insurance only accounted for about 5% of my decision to leave my job. And as they pointed out MOST (75% or more) of the people who left their jobs did so to find a better job, start a business or even retire. Honorably, Some wanted to focus more on family and be a stay at home parent for a little while. While others just got fed up of being treated like trash. Or some combination there of.

I don't like that this story insinuates that the Affordable Healthcare Act is the number one reason people leave their jobs. Most people leave their jobs because they are looking for something better. And they have every right to do so. It's not a crime to want better.

[ZePopTart]

I’m in the middle of the biggest series of health problems of my life, and my company decided that it was a great time to cut my health coverage in half with like two months warning. I would pay an extra $300/month in a heartbeat to get platinum coverage through Obamacare, but they literally won’t let me while I’m employed. For a country that is so obsessed with the free market, it’s bizarre we have so few choices on healthcare.

[chinesesparrows]

Another mostly US problem that doesnt occur in other advanced economies

[svhjfeSAadcjs]

This is why I left the United States years ago, it is a broken system with a congress that knows what's wrong and how to fix it, but because of campaign finance loopholes, our government will watch America burn to the ground before they give up their kickbacks and save it.

[brandon]

“Marketplace coverage is pretty affordable”. Last year, I had to buy my own insurance. For a HDHP with a $6, 900 deductible and terrible network, I had to pay $300/mo. I think our definitions of affordable are a bit different lol.

[mattahmann]

I know lots of hospitals are violating the new policy of posting their prices publicly, but this needs to be enforced.

[didipkerabat]

Health insurance being tied to employment is basically a legalize racketeering to protect large companies. If people cannot quit to start their own business then these legacy companies will have less competition. Champion of free market should support single payer healthcare.

[bethriley]

Health care is so expensive, no matter where you go. And it doesn't cover much when/if you do get hurt or sick. The out of pocket is over the top.

[kriskeena]

I have had ACA coverage since the beginning of its existence and it's been a GODSEND. I work FT at a small family owned business and love my job, but they could not provide insurance. My relatively low salary, less than 40k, has meant a decent subsidy and for me, excellent coverage with a fairly large provider network. On the individual market, as a single 60yr old woman in good health, similar insurance was untouchable; nearly 3/4 of my after-tax income per month. I thank God everyday for Obamacare.Before the ACA, I just didn't have it. Made too much for Medicaid, but not enough to buy. I get it's not much help for higher earners, I wish that it was.

[rjbjr]

Remember when people get an adequate retirement and a gold watch after they worked for a company 30 years?

[jeremygibbs]

Spoiler. I'm in Canada and we have similar issues with job resignation and we have already had universal healthcare for decades without this being an issue.

The real issue? Likely people being fed-up being overworked and I would wonder if people without kids would feel as pressured to succeed.

[Anyguy]

People not being a slave to their jobs because of needing the health benefits in order to live and maintain their health is a good thing. In the long run, it's better for people to find jobs that make them happy ...

[bobbab]

While I am glad there is the ACA, we've way overcomplicated this. Subsidies? Marketplaces? Look, here's how it works in Japan and it's pretty great. You've got 2 options. Option 1: Employer-based insurance. Option 2: National insurance which has 1 plan only and it's really good. You must choose one of the two. You can sign up for the national plan at your municipal building. Don't make much? Don't worry - income-based. If you make too little, your cost will be very low. Earn alot? Pay more. Where can you go to a doctor with your insurance? ANYWHERE. Why can't we do something like that? You either have employer/private insurance or you have essentially medicare sign up.

[bingosunnoon]

When I moved back to the USA 15 years ago after working down under, I was appalled to find that health care was worse than it was when I left. That was something I thought was impossible because it's always been pretty bad. Australian health care is free and readily available. If this is socialism, then bring it on. It's wonderful.

[seanipher]

As someone who had to use the marketplace as a contractor I can tell you it’s not fun. It’s way more expensive and has less options available. I hope our country either improves the market place or fixes what it means to be “contractor, ” so that companies can’t screw workers out of coverage (which is what was happening in the business I was working in).

[LiliesPhillies]

No, it’s not. It’s awful working conditions, awful wages, no benefits, being treated as a number they cannot wait to replace with technology, etc.

And as an American living in Canada, I’m so glad that healthcare costs LITERALLY do not enter into our household budget.

[mattahmann]

We should have single payer public private hybrid options. Economies that do this spend less % of gdp on healthcare and are more happy