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The rising cost of employer-sponsored health insurance has led to reduced wages, according to a new study. The study found that the cost of health benefits provided by employers has increased faster than workers’ pay since the late 1980s, resulting in an average reduction of about $9,000 per year in wages by 2019. This has contributed to wage stagnation and income inequality over the past three decades. The study also revealed that health insurance premiums took a larger percentage of compensation for Black, Hispanic, and lower-income workers. “Health insurance should help people, not hold them back or push them further behind when it comes to wages and income equality,” observed Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, senior researcher and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University.
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