How did we end up with health insurance being tied to our jobs?

❝❝“You’re coming out of the Depression and all of a sudden hiring ramps up,” said Sherry Glied, professor of public service at New York University. So many men are abroad that businesses are desperate for employees that “wages start to climb and prices start to climb. We start to see major inflation happening in the U.S. economy,” Glied said.

In that October chat, President Roosevelt argued that economic sacrifices at home were needed as much as any new tank.

“We shall be compelled to stop workers from moving from one war job to another as a matter of personal preference; to stop employers from stealing labor from each other,” Roosevelt said.

That year, the National War Labor Board forbade employers from raising their workers’ salaries — a wage cap. If our employer-sponsored insurance system has an origin story, it is this.❞❞
     — Dan Gorenstein

Tags: clipping ∙ Dan Gorenstein ∙ healthcare ∙ Sherry Glied ∙ New York University ∙ Great Depression ∙ FDR ∙ National War Labor Board ∙ forbidden ∙ employer-sponsored insurance system