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Yes. Employers get huge tax incentives for providing insurance, while individuals don't. This ensures that the only economical way to buy health insurance is through an employer, which means you are not free to change plans without changing employers (or change employers without changing plans).

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The only tax incentive for employers is deducting it as a business expense. I.e., paying with pre-tax income. Individuals can also do that if self-employed.

Individuals are the one with huge tax benefits under the ACA. Last year, the government paid 73% of my health insurance premiums as a tax credit.

"if self-employed" is a big if here

Yeah and to be more precise the problem isn't really that individuals don't get tax incentives for buying their own plan, it's that employers don't get tax incentives for giving individuals money to buy their own plans, only for buying a plan for them.

So even if you could get a tax break for buying your own health insurance, you'd still have to give up a bunch of free money from your employer in order to take advantage of that, which isn't realistic.

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