The Atlantic

Americans Prefer Their Employers, Not the Government, to Provide Health Benefits

People want more medical leave, but like other perks, they prefer for it to come from companies.
Source: Thierry Charlier / AP

Most Americans don’t get fully paid medical leave, but they want it. According to a massive Pew Research survey released today, only 47 percent of people who took time off from work for medical or family reasons did so while receiving their regular salary, while 36 percent took time off with no pay. (The rest received partial pay.) Those at lower incomes were much less likely to get paid leave than wealthier people were.

The U.S. is the world’s in which workers aren’t guaranteed paid leave of get paid leave to deal with their own health conditions. (Americans were more likely to endorse paid medical leave than maternity, paternity, or caregiver leave.)

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic4 min read
When Private Equity Comes for a Public Good
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. In some states, public funds are being poured into t
The Atlantic4 min readAmerican Government
How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t
Near the end of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments about whether Colorado could exclude former President Donald Trump from its ballot as an insurrectionist, the attorney representing voters from the state offered a warning to the justices—one evoking

Related