Such an arrangement may seem to work well for the employer, who no longer feels the obligation to offer employee health insurance. And, for the employee, the additional bump in salary appears to be a nice perk — at first.

Yet, if this practice becomes a universal trend, nobody wins. Many people tend to spend what they have and leave little left over for a rainy day. Without adequate health coverage in place, or the means to afford the escalating costs of medical care, the ramifications are sweeping:

• Employees without health coverage and their family members, unable to get preventative care or proper treatment for an illness, may become sicker, resulting in the loss of an employee for an extended period of time.
• Lacking other options, employees without health care and their family members may turn to the emergency room for non-emergency care. Under the state's charity care laws, the hospital must care for the sick person, whether they can pay or not. That drives up health costs for the rest of us, as we are the ones who ultimately pay for that care.
• Without the buying power of the company behind them, employees will wind up paying more for individual health coverage than their employers would have paid to put them on group coverage.
• Older employees, or those with existing conditions, will be hit especially hard by the higher cost of health insurance.

While there is no easy answer to the problem of health care in America today, we can all agree that leaving employees on their own to find insurance, rather than giving them the benefit of group rates, is not the solution. And if the next generation of workers cannot expect adequate health care coverage from their employers, the numbers of uninsured workers will only continue to rise.

Health insurance brokers are frequently called upon when someone is standing at the pharmacy counter and wondering why their prescription is no longer covered. And, we are the ones who sit in meetings with insurance carriers as they reiterate why costs are rising, once again, for our clients.

For an honest and accurate discussion about the future of health insurance, our elected officials and political candidates need to rely upon health insurance professionals for the creation of meaningful solutions. We cringe at the thought of our next president assuming office with the misperception that his or her health insurance solution "won," and, more importantly, that this country can actually afford to implement such proposals.

To that end, organizations such as the New Jersey Association of Health Underwriters need to have a seat at the table to ensure our policy makers have the proper perspective and to ensure that no American is without access to quality health care simply due to cost avoidance.

Gary Taffet is a principal with Reliance Insurance Group and a member of the New Jersey Association of Health Underwriters. He can be reached at 732-602-0010.