Employee-Provided Healthcare

I've been wanting to write about this topic for a while, but the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson allegedly by Luigi Mangione has been weighing on my mind. First and foremost, healthcare in this country has been in shambles for a long time.

Throughout my career, I've always had employer-provided healthcare—through two government employers (state and county) and one private employer. I can say that the state-provided plan was the cheapest but middle-of-the-road in terms of quality. The county government plan was a little more expensive, but it was by far the best coverage I've ever had. Now, I work for a private employer, and while I'm grateful to have insurance, it has been the worst plan I've ever had—and I work for a hospital.

All three employer-provided plans I've had were self-funded but administered by private companies. The prescription coverage across all of them was terrible, though the county plan was the best of the three.