You just don’t get to buy it with pre tax income, and most employers don’t or can’t pay enough for people to afford the premiums and out of pocket maximums. If you are young and without kids and assets to seize, you might as well ignore health insurance.
I pay less than $100.00 a month for an incredible plan, and I have the option of paying nothing for a decent plan. My $750.00 MOOP pays for my many health concerns. Obviously, my income is low, but health insurance is an "easy" part of my life.
Apprenticeships pay $15.00-$20.00 per hour. This is low enough that healthcare.gov pays for the insurance in full. It wouldn't be the best plan, but it would be enough for free therapy, office visits, and drugs. This is in line with the life/age/etc. of most apprentices.
That said, it would be rare for an apprenticeship to be with an institution that wasn't legally required to offer a plan. The plan would be terrible, and it would disqualify the apprentices from healthcare.gov.
This comment has no connection to reality.
https://www.aasa.org/resources/resource/Youth-Apprenticeship...
Apprenticeships are generally low compensation on the understanding that gaining skills is part of the equation.
When the apprentice can't afford rent (thanks private equity) or healthcare (thanks....also private equity) or much else, the whole system breaks down.
Its a Structural employment mismatch. We got a preview in 2008 with all the layoffs that became the event that pushed people out of the workforce for the rest of their lives. And there is no retraining programs, because leadership doesn't care. K-type recovery is fine for them
Stem and service jobs could have easily been filled, but leadership would rather ship those overseas.
The idea that your future career outlook is basically determined by the time you’re a young teenager is seen as unnecessarily limiting.
In practice there are plenty of apprenticeships for the trades, but they start in high school or later and are functionally socially invisible to people that go to college. Probably because there is more economic segregation in the US than in most European cities.