How Tennessee can protect the benefits workers earn

Every Labor Day, we pause to celebrate American workers. Many of us spend the long weekend at the lake, by the grill or enjoying well-deserved downtime. But while most people return ready for fall routines and football, business owners face a far less celebratory reality: the looming crunch of open enrollment. Things have never looked more expensive. According to Mercer, employers face another consecutive year of spiking health benefit costs – the steepest sustained climb in more than two decades. A volatile mix of federal policy uncertainty, state-level mandates that punish plan sponsors and pharmaceutical price-gouging has created a chaotic market. For business owners, budgeting for another year of employee coverage feels like aiming at a moving target. When Labor Day was established in 1894, employer-provided health coverage did not exist. The model emerged decades later when workers pooled wages for prepaid care, then accelerated during World War II when federal wage freezes forced employers to offer benefits to compete for talent. The war ended, but the practice stuck. Workers came to rely on coverage for their families, and employers relied on healthy teams. Then came the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Over the objections of conservative lawmakers – including many in Tennessee – the federal government codified a voluntary recruiting tool into a rigid legal mandate, imposing steep penalties on employers who fail to comply. Opinion: 340B was built for patients, not hospital profit margins That mandate gave health systems and Big Pharma a captive market, driving prices ever higher while employers were left holding the bag. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, average annual family premiums reached nearly $27,000, with workers shouldering roughly $6,850 directly out of their paychecks. Prescription drug spending jumped even faster. At the same time, Mercer's data shows total employer health costs climbing past $18,500 per employee – outpacing both inflation and wage growth. Unsurprisingly, over half of Tennesseans report worrying about whether they can afford their medications. Employers have fought a losing battle to absorb these hits, tweaking plan designs, shifting deductibles and cutting elsewhere. What is baffling is the response from state lawmakers. Many who campaigned passionately against federal overreach now vote with glee for state-level coverage mandates that drive plan costs up. It is as if they forgot their own campaign platforms. During my time in the Tennessee General Assembly, I watched lawmakers pass well-intentioned bills targeting "insurance companies" without realizing – or admitting – that employers and workers bear the ultimate cost. When you artificially inflate plan mandates, employers are forced to pass the burden to staff, pause wage increases, delay capital investment or freeze hiring. Opinion: Who pays for Tennessee's growth? Homeowners do It does not have to be this way. When the 115th General Assembly convenes in Nashville, lawmakers have an opportunity to change course. They can rein in costly state mandates, reject special-interest carve-outs and prioritize genuine affordability. If you run into your state representative or senator at a cookout this weekend, give them a clear message: Keep Tennessee truly business-friendly, and protect the employers and workers who keep our state running. Michael Curcio is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Employer Benefits Alliance, a collective of businesses advocating for affordable health care plans. A Dickson native, he served three terms in the Tennessee General Assembly.