Health Insurance Keeps 25% of US Employees Locked in Their Jobs

According to the findings of a recent poll conducted by Gallup and West Health, almost a quarter of employees within the U.S., or about 23 million individuals, remain doing jobs they would have otherwise left. They stay due to their desire to retain their health insurance. 

The data shows that “job lock” has been growing over the years and this latest survey indicates an increase of 8% from the number of people who reported being stuck in their jobs due to health insurance concerns in 2021. This comes as costs of healthcare are increasing to levels that are widely considered a crisis that needs to be fixed to tame rising medical costs. 

The survey found that individuals who are facing financial difficulties as a result of their healthcare costs have a higher likelihood of experiencing job lock than those who aren’t experiencing this financial strain. Respondents that admitted to having medical debt had a 44% rate of reporting that they stayed at their jobs so they could retain their health insurance. 

This is compared to a smaller figure, 21%, of people without medical debt that still felt stuck at their jobs so they could retain their health insurance. 

The survey also found that job lock was higher among workers who have been diagnosed with one or more chronic diseases. 29% of employees with chronic conditions say they remain at their workplaces to avoid losing their health insurance while only 17% of those without chronic medical conditions report job lock. 

For individuals with more than three chronic illnesses, job lock soared to 41%, an indicator of how costly it can be to manage these conditions if one doesn’t have extensive health insurance cover. 

In terms of gender, job lock is higher among women (30%) than among men (20%). More women, 22%, also reported having medical debt compared to just 12% of men. Rates of chronic disease were also higher among women (66%) than among men (57%). 

The findings of this survey have several implications not only for policymakers but also for the entire country. Job lock has grown as healthcare costs have risen, which is a big concern because when employees stay at jobs that don’t meet their personal or professional needs anymore, wellbeing declines, workplace accidents increase and productivity suffers. 

It would be interesting to learn what the job lock rates in vulnerable communities, such as racial minorities served by companies like Astiva Health, are, because the picture could be worse than the national averages suggest. 

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