Would you like a line at the bottom of your restaurant bill labelled "Employee Health Insurance"?

If there was a check-box, I’d check it. Healthcare shouldn’t be optional. I expect that I’m paying for that with the price of my meal, just like I wouldn’t expect a separate line on the bill that read “unspoiled meat,” or “adequate fire safety.”

I would prefer they just pay their employees a living wage and be done with it.

No.

It is done in San Francisco, because the City mandated employers to contribute to health insurance. Before that, most restaurant workers had no access to health insurance other than expensive personal plans.

When I go to a nice restaurant, i accept it as part of the cost. But when I get lunch, and it’s added to the cost of a salad or a sandwich, it bugs me because with that and sales tax, all of a sudden my lunch just went way up.

That strikes me as odd. Why not give the insurance as a benefit like every one else? I would not pay it. What happens if the restaurant does not get enough to cover insurance premiums? Do they drop the insurance? Is it done on a per worker basis?

@LostInParadise the other question: do you trust restaurant management to actually use it for health insurance, or are they lining their own pockets?

Good point. I have heard stories about tips being stolen from employees when the tip is added to the credit card payment.

The tax implication is interesting. I would think if the restaurant pays for health insurance for employees that is an expense taken from income, and so they are not paying tax on the money.

I’d find it odd to see that on a check at a restaurant. I’m not sure I would trust it all goes to healthcare expenses.

You guys should get cancer. And then see how you feel about tying health insurance to employment. Three months of chemo and a 9to5 are a very difficult mix. Three months of chemo and not shitting the bed when you cough is hard enough.

^Not to open up a new topic, but I am all in favor of socialized medicine. The question was about the current system.

No and I would probably tell the owner.

@johnpowell I have always had a serious problem with employers “providing” health insurance. It enslaved people to their jobs.

Why don’t they feel the need to itemize utility bills? Or rent? Or the cost of tomatoes?

It’s because those don’t express their resentment towards employees.

^^They say in the article, because of the tax consequences.