“Numerous instances, well being care comes with a job.”
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), in an interview with KOTA on Might 30, 2025
Hundreds of thousands of individuals are anticipated to lose entry to Medicaid and Reasonably priced Care Act market medical insurance plans if federal lawmakers approve the One Huge Lovely Invoice Act, President Donald Trump’s home coverage package deal, which is now transferring by the Senate.
Senate Majority Chief John Thune mentioned well being care and the pending laws in an interview with KOTA, a South Dakota TV station. However he targeted on a special type of medical insurance — employer-sponsored insurance coverage.
“Numerous instances, well being care comes with a job,” Thune stated.
Thune’s feedback within the interview had been made within the context of highlighting a part of the GOP’s financial coverage goal. “Creating these better-paying jobs that include advantages is in the end the aim right here,” he stated.
KFF Well being Information reached out to Thune’s workplace to seek out out the premise for this remark. His communications director, Ryan Wrasse, responded by reiterating Thune’s message: “Getting a job has the potential to steer a employee to buying well being care.”
Paul Fronstin, director of well being advantages analysis on the Worker Profit Analysis Institute, stated Thune’s remark can also be alluding to discussions surrounding Medicaid work necessities. The One Huge Lovely Invoice Act would let nondisabled adults enroll in Medicaid provided that they show they’re volunteering, working, or looking out or coaching for work.
Medicaid, funded by the federal authorities and states, is the nation’s essential medical insurance program for folks with low incomes. Some folks with disabilities additionally qualify.
Some Republicans have constructed on the roles speaking level in defending the Medicaid cuts and work necessities. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), as an example, advised CNBC the invoice isn’t about “kicking folks off Medicaid. It’s transitioning from Medicaid to employer-provided well being care.”
However the well being coverage specialists we checked with made clear that getting a job isn’t a assure for getting work-sponsored insurance coverage.
Employer-Sponsored Well being Insurance coverage: The Fundamentals
These specialists stated most jobs do supply medical insurance. However additionally they stated the hyperlink between employment and work-based protection just isn’t at all times easy.
“After I see this assertion, I’m like, ‘I’ve bought a lot extra to say about this.’ However I’m not arguing with the assertion,” Fronstin stated.
Matthew Rae, an affiliate director targeted on researching personal insurance coverage at KFF, a well being info nonprofit that features KFF Well being Information, additionally weighed in.
“Employer-sponsored protection stays the bedrock of how folks get medical insurance in the USA,” Rae stated. “I might say that getting a job just isn’t a assure you’re going to have medical insurance. It simply will increase your probabilities of getting it.”
About 60% of People youthful than 65 obtain medical insurance by their job or because the partner, little one, or different dependent of somebody insured by their work, in response to 2023 KFF knowledge.
Amongst staff ages 18 to 64 who had been eligible however didn’t join their office insurance coverage, 28% stated the rationale they determined to not enroll was that the plans had been too costly, 2023 KFF knowledge confirmed.
Most of those staff discovered medical insurance elsewhere, similar to by a relative’s office plan. However a small share of eligible workers, 3.7%, had been uninsured.
Medical health insurance has been “probably the most valued profit within the office” since companies started providing it to recruit workers in a good labor market throughout World Struggle II, Fronstin stated.
Federal legislation additionally encourages corporations to supply plans. Beneath the Reasonably priced Care Act, employers with 50 or extra full-time staff are penalized in the event that they don’t supply most workers insurance coverage that the federal authorities considers inexpensive.
As of final 12 months, 54% of corporations supplied medical insurance to at the least some workers, in response to KFF.
However that’s not the principle means the ACA helped decrease the speed of individuals with out medical insurance, stated Melissa Thomasson, a professor at Miami College in Ohio who specializes within the financial historical past of medical insurance. “Almost all of that” change, she stated, got here from the ACA creating personal market plans and permitting states to develop Medicaid eligibility.
Well being coverage analysts say the One Huge Lovely Invoice would make it harder for folks to qualify or afford market plans, with proposals that may enhance paperwork, shorten enrollment intervals, and permit enhanced tax credit to fizzle out. Thomasson additionally famous that political rhetoric surrounding jobs and medical insurance doesn’t at all times align.
“We regularly speak about small companies being the engine of job creation,” however these are the companies that always can’t afford to supply office insurance coverage, she stated.
So Who Isn’t Insured By Office Insurance coverage?
The obvious class of people that don’t have office insurance coverage are those that don’t have a job. This group contains kids and retirees, folks looking for work, individuals who select to not work, and people who can’t work, due to a incapacity or sickness.
One other group with out employer-provided insurance coverage is the 25% of individuals ages 18 to 64 who’ve a job however are unable to acquire such insurance coverage, in response to 2023 knowledge from KFF.
A few of these folks work for corporations that don’t supply medical insurance. These employers are typically small companies or a part of sure industries, similar to farming and building.
Others are part-time, momentary, or seasonal staff at corporations that provide medical insurance solely to full-time workers. Staff with low incomes are considerably much less possible than these with increased incomes to be eligible for office insurance coverage, in response to 2023 KFF knowledge.
Individuals who aren’t employed or don’t get insurance coverage by their job can get protection in different methods. Some are insured by a relative’s office plan, whereas others buy plans and will qualify for subsidies on the ACA market.
Others get insurance coverage by Medicaid or Medicare, the federal medical insurance program for folks 65 or older and a few folks with disabilities.
Price and High quality — And Due to this fact Entry to Care — Range
Simply because somebody has medical insurance doesn’t imply they’ll get the well being care they want. Folks could skip or delay care if their plans are unaffordable or in the event that they restrict in-network suppliers.
“Well being advantages are available all sizes and styles,” Fronstin stated. “Some employers supply very beneficiant advantages, and others much less so.”
KFF knowledge exhibits that premiums and enrollees’ cost-sharing bills grew sooner than wages from 2008 to 2018 however have slowed in recent times.
Whether or not office insurance coverage is inexpensive considerably varies by earnings. In accordance with 2020 KFF knowledge, lower-income households insured by a full-time employee spent, on common, 10.4% of their earnings on premiums and out-of-pocket prices. That’s greater than twice the speed when taking a look at households throughout all incomes.
Our Ruling
Thune stated, “Numerous instances, well being care comes with a job.”
This assertion is partially correct. Most staff within the U.S. get well being protection by work. Nevertheless it glosses over elements of our nation’s job-based medical insurance system — similar to how prices and protection, particularly for these with decrease incomes, could make an employer plan out of attain even whether it is accessible.
Backside line: Not all jobs present medical insurance or supply plans to all their staff. After they do, price and high quality range broadly — making Thune’s assertion an oversimplification.
We price this assertion Half True.
Sources
KOTA interview with Sen. John Thune, Might 30, 2025.
CNBC interview with Sen. James Lankford, June 5, 2025.
KFF, “2024 Employer Well being Advantages Survey,” Oct. 9, 2024.
KFF, “Employer Accountability Beneath the Reasonably priced Care Act,” Feb. 29, 2024.
KFF, “Employer-Sponsored Well being Insurance coverage 101,” Might 28, 2024.
Peterson-KFF Well being System Tracker, “What Are the Latest Developments in Employer-Primarily based Well being Protection?” Dec. 22, 2023.
Peterson-KFF Well being System Tracker, “How Affordability of Employer Protection Varies by Household Revenue,”March 10, 2022.
Peterson-KFF Well being System Tracker, “Monitoring the Rise in Premium Contributions and Price-Sharing for Households With Massive Employer Protection,” Aug. 14, 2019.
Manhattan Institute, “Put Workers in Management of Well being Insurance coverage with ‘Employee’s Alternative ICHRA,’” Might 22, 2025.
Brookings, “Uninsurance Charges Have Fallen Considerably Following the Reasonably priced Care Act,” July 22, 2024.
Harvard Enterprise Evaluation, “Why Do Employers Present Well being Care within the First Place?” March 15, 2019.
Congressional Funds Workplace letter on the One Huge Lovely Invoice Act rising the variety of uninsured folks, June 4, 2025.
Cellphone interview with Paul Fronstin, director of well being advantages analysis on the Worker Profit Analysis Institute and a member of the Commonwealth Fund’s Nationwide Process Drive on the Future Function of Employers within the U.S. Well being System, June 6, 2025.
Cellphone interview with Melissa Thomasson, professor and well being economist at Miami College, June 6, 2025.
Cellphone interview with Maanasa Kona, affiliate analysis professor on the Middle on Well being Insurance coverage Reforms at Georgetown College, June 6, 2025.
Cellphone interview with Matthew Rae, affiliate director for the Well being Care Market Program at KFF, June 10, 2025.
Cellphone interview with Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Analysis Institute, June 11, 2025.
E-mail correspondence with Ryan Wrasse, communications director for Sen. John Thune, June 10, 2025.
KFF Well being Information, “Some Employers Take a look at Association To Give Staff Allowance for Protection,” Oct. 2, 2024.
KFF Well being Information, “Trump’s ‘One Huge Lovely Invoice’ Continues Assault on Obamacare,” June 3, 2025.
KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working applications at KFF—an impartial supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Study extra about KFF.
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