US workers are resigning their jobs in record numbers as part of what is now known as “The Great Resignation.”
Between July and November 2021, almost 4 million workers will have resigned.
CNBC reports Erica Leman had been a wedding photographer on the side for 12 years.
Like millions of other Americans, Leman, who worked in higher education, saw the pandemic as an opportunity to shift careers.
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She said: “We had one pandemic, what’s the chances of it happening again, during my lifetime?”
“The worst that could happen is that I go back to a job. That’s not the end of the world.”
People in the United States who left their jobs to become their own bosses may gain unprecedented financial freedom, but they lose a significant advantage: health insurance benefits.
According to US Census data, more than 54 percent of Americans got insurance via their work in 2020.
One in three insured workers would consider leaving jobs if health insurance weren’t a factor, according to Policygenius’s November 2021 Health Insurance Literacy Survey.
Myles Ma, senior managing editor at Policygenius said: “The Great Resignation might be even greater if it weren’t for the way our health insurance system is constituted.”
That anxiety was certainly true for Leman.
She said: “One of the reasons that I almost never considered leaving a staff position until recently was because of health insurance.”
Many Americans in need of health insurance use the Obamacare marketplace to select a plan, and the Biden administration announced that sign-ups will reach an all-time high in December 2021, despite the recent rise in resignations.
Several Americans claim the exchanges are difficult to navigate and that they have had difficulty finding an appropriate plan at a reasonable price.
71 percent of uninsured Americans who decided not to acquire coverage from a commercial insurer or through the marketplace did so because it was too expensive.
Leman also turned to the marketplace to find a plan but realized none of the offerings fit her needs.
She said: “There were so many options, and all of them seem just kind of like a lot of money for not a lot of support.”
Karen Pollitz, senior fellow for health reform and private insurance at Kaiser Family Foundation said: “There are significant limitations in marketplace plan coverage that you can’t easily see.
“The coverage is meaningfully different from what you may have been used to from your job.”
While the epidemic may have aided in the Great Resignation, it also ushered in new legislation that might make market-based insurance coverage more accessible for the majority of Americans.
However, just 30 percent of consumers are aware that financial aid is available to help them pay for their plans
Source: CNBC
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