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All this HRA approach does is shift the risk from the employer to the employee.
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You make that sound like it’s a BAD thing.
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Employees, on the other hand, are now on their own in the individual market which in many states offers very limited options.
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Sounds like the People should demand govt get the F* outta the way & let the Free Market go ITS job.
I love the sentiment but it's just a fact that the healthcare market is different and free market principles don't apply in traditional ways.
One basic issue is that markets have winners and loser but as a society we've decided we don't want losers if it means they can't get healthcare.
We have laws that say they can't be refused emergency care and as a practical matter they're rarely refused care for not being able to pay. Unlike other markets instead of the loser taking his losses we've socialized the costs and the rest of society picks them up.
The whole third-party payer thing also distorts the market in crazy ways plus the fact that the purchase of healthcare is often not discretionary.
It's evolved into a very different animal in this country and our approach has to deal with that reality.