I’m sure you’ve heard the empowerment gurus on LinkedIn who say that people working for companies are idiots. Admittedly it seems that too many companies don’t care about their employees and will jettison them at a moment’s notice.
So what do the empowerment gurus recommend? They tell people to take control of their own destiny and work for themselves. Don’t use your talents to fatten some executive’s stock options.
However, those of us in the United States face a huge barrier to that.
Healthcare.
Unless a solopreneur’s spouse has employer-subsidized healthcare, the financial healthcare penalty for working for yourself is huge. From an individual perspective, anyway.
The average annual premium for employer-sponsored family coverage totaled about $27,000 in 2025, according to [the Kaiser Family Foundation]. This is coverage for a family of four.
But workers don’t pay the full sum. They contributed just $6,850 — about 25% — toward the total premium, according to KFF. Employers subsidized the rest, paying about $20,000, on average.
By comparison, if the enhanced ACA subsidies expire next year, the average family of four earning $130,000 would pay the full, unsubsidized premium for marketplace coverage.
Their annual insurance premiums would jump to about $23,900, more than double the subsidized cost of $11,050 — an increase of almost $12,900, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Do how do those who oppose Communist subsidies propose to solve ACA healthcare costs?
By providing people with an annual health savings account funding of…checks notes…$1,500.
Perhaps I’m deprived because of my 20th century math education, but last I checked $1,500 in funding is less than $12,900 in losses.
People who are on COBRA, or a similar program such as Cal COBRA, experience similar sticker shocks.
So my advice to people is to do one or both of the following:
- Get employer-subsidized healthcare.
- Marry someone with employer-subsidized healthcare.
Bredemarket 