“...they are going to drop their health insurance plan and give their employees a flat fee to buy their own insurance.”
I believe this has been the goal all along. This system will successfully remove the untaxable “benefit” from behind the employer-employee relationship and expose it to the IRS as taxable income of the employee.
Recall that the benefit of employer provided health insurance has its roots in a way to go around wage and price controls (I believe back in the 1940s). It hasn’t been taxable up to this point, but these lump-sum pay-outs will now be, to some extent.
You are so right!
It started in response to FDR freezing wages.