Fear of losing health insurance is keeping people in jobs they don’t want

One out of every six adult workers with employer-based health insurance are staying in jobs they might leave if not for the insurance that comes with it, according to a survey by Gallup and West Health.

The results are even more pronounced among Black and brown employees and those making less than $48,000 a year. Twenty-one percent of Black workers and 16% of Hispanic workers said they were in a job they wanted to leave but weren’t going for fear of losing health benefits. These rates were higher than the 14% of white people surveyed who felt the same way.

Workers making less than $48,000 a year were nearly three times more likely to stay in a job for the health benefits compared to workers earning at least $120,000 per year, the study said.

More than half of respondents in the Gallup West Health survey said they were concerned that the cost of health care services and cost of prescription drugs would become unaffordable for them in the future. Forty-two percent of respondents were also concerned they would not be able to pay for a major health event. Some people have turned to alternatives such as GoodRx to avoid high premiums for medications, even though they don’t always benefit in the long run.

Last March, 20 million jobs were cut by employers as the pandemic took a heavy toll on companies, especially those in the retail and service sectors, leaving many people without insurance. Employers added only 266,000 jobs last month, lower than the number added in March, despite signs of economic recovery.

A year later, there is a major shuffle in employment, with many leaving their jobs for greener pastures or because of burnout. One in four workers last month were planning to leave their jobs after the threat of the pandemic subsides, according to Prudential’s Pulse of the American Worker survey.

Around 49% of workers receive employer-sponsored health insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget office estimated that at any given point in 2019, prior to the pandemic, about 12% of the U.S. population under age 65 were uninsured.