@axescot78 wrote:
How come pre-tax dollars can be used to pay for premiums on an employer sponsored plan but not on an individual plan?
That's how Congress wrote the laws.
In part, the ability to deduct medical expenses that are more than 7.5% of your income will tend to confuse the issue because if you take the deduction but also used an HSA or FSA, then you are double-dipping.
In part, it has to do with how fringe benefit laws are written and the incentives to give employees generous benefits (probably inserted in the tax laws at the request of union lobbyists). Technically, when you enroll in employer-sponsored insurance, you enter a salary reduction agreement with your employer. Your salary is reduced, so it is never subject to tax in the first place, and your employer pays all the premium and gets to deduct it as a business expense (if they follow certain rules).
But what it boils down to is, "Because Congress."
