Introduction

The federal government spends a large fraction of all health care spending. The tax exclusion for employers sponsord health insurance means that if your employer pays you in cash, the government taxes it. If your employer pay you in health benefits, there are no taxes. That sounds like a great deal, but what it ends up doing is it ends up panalyzing workers unless they let their employers control a sizable chunk of their earnings and choose their health insurance for them. It actually antedates world war to price controls.