Employers like to say -- and often believe -- that they pay for health care, write Ezekiel J. Emanuel (National Institutes of Health), and Victor R. Fuchs  (Stanford University), writing in the Chicago Tribune.

Union leaders want members to think that health benefits are a bonus on top of wages. But wages and fringe benefits, such as health insurance, are simply components of overall worker compensation. This cost-wage trade-off is usually well hidden from employers and workers, but it is nonetheless a painful reality for average Americans. The increasing cost of health care has resulted in American workers receiving relatively flat wages for 30 years, they write. The reality is that individuals bear the full cost of health care through lower wages and higher taxes.