Each of my employees receive about $7800 less per year in their paychecks because a Democrat made me buy them health insurance instead of giving them the money to buy their own healthcare.
Also, this may be state specific, but another benefit for the employee of doing it this way, is their portion is from pre-tax money.
This is the kind of weight that you don't have as an individual shopping for health insurance.
> the employer deals with a broker, the broker represents many employers
I need to look into this again, but it wasn't the case last I checked. Larger employers (those who can really move the negotiating needle) don't want to help smaller companies by being the anchor in a group situation because the larger employers see insurance as a competitive advantage. It's been a few years, but the last time I checked going through broker they were just negotiating for the individual company and not a group. I clearly need to revisit or maybe find a different/better broker.
So, consider doing that. Taking the $4000 penalty from the $7800 you currently pay, that leaves $3800 that can be split between you and the worker. (split it as needed to attract and keep talent)
Depending on the state you are in, the workers needing insurance might do better having some portion of that $3800 than having the insurance you can get for them. You may even have workers who get insurance from elsewhere, such as a parent or spouse, and they'd much prefer a portion of the $3800 saved.
For sure, very big employers will have a different setup, but SMB definitely use brokers to get better deals for themselves and their employees.