Does your employer have to offer health insurance?

Historically, employers did not have to offer health insurance. When affordable for the employer, however, it was a way to attract valuable employees, even when the employer paid only a share of the monthly premium.

With the coming of "healthcare reform", if upheld, much may change. This includes the requirements that certain size employers will be required to offer, and/or pay for health insurance for certain classes of employees (probably full-time, at least at first).

One of the things that both employer and employee must be careful of is that policies be issued by licensed insurers. Insurers are authorized (licensed) by the states in which they conduct business and one of the primary duties of state insurance departments is to ensure solvency, This involves ensuring that an insurer has enough money on hand to make sure that claims can be paid as they arise. The net of this is that cheaper is usually not better.