The Current Situation
The price of staying healthy has outrun the paycheck
Two numbers tell the story. The average employer family health premium reached $25,572 a year in 2024 (KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey). The median American wage earner made about $48,000 in 2023 (Social Security Administration). One family's coverage now costs more than half of what the middle worker earns in a year.
One family premium vs. one median paycheck
The average family premium is worth more than half of the median worker's entire year of wages.
Sources: Social Security Administration wage statistics, 2023; KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey, 2024. Comparison of two national averages, shown for scale.
Why It Matters
You know this bill. You've paid it.
If you work for a living, none of the numbers above surprise you. You've seen the deduction line on your pay stub. You've done the math in the pharmacy line. You've put off the appointment — not because you didn't need it, but because you didn't know what it would cost.
On average, workers with employer family coverage contribute about $6,296 a year toward the premium (KFF, 2024) — roughly $525 a month — before a single deductible, copay, or prescription. For a household near the median wage of about $48,000 (SSA, 2023), that contribution alone claims around one dollar in eight, and the full premium — the part employers pay is compensation too — is worth more than half a year's wages.
And that squeeze sits on top of everything else: consumer prices overall rose about 21% from January 2020 to December 2024 (Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI). Healthcare isn't the only cost that grew. It's the one that can bankrupt you.
A country where about 9 in 10 wage earners make under $120,000 (SSA, 2023) cannot build its health system as if the tenth worker were the typical one.
Our Position
Affordable for every worker — or free at the point of service
This is an advocacy position of 120K or Less, adopted on behalf of the working majority. It is a destination, stated plainly. The routes to it are for members, experts, and honest math to work out together.
We believe
Healthcare should be affordable — or free at the point of service — for every American who works for a living. No family earning $120,000 or less should face a choice between a diagnosis and a mortgage payment.
We support
Publicly funded and universal coverage options — approaches where the public's buying power, not the individual sickbed, carries the cost. Several models can get there; we have not locked the movement to one design.
We insist
Coverage should follow the person, not the job. Changing employers, starting a business, or caring for a parent should never mean losing your family's doctor.
We protect
Medicare. Our federal income tax relief plan explicitly maintains full Social Security and Medicare payroll funding — read how the tax plan preserves payroll funding.
What It Would Mean
For a working family, three things change
- The premium stops being a second rent
- Today the average family premium runs $25,572 a year, with workers directly paying about $6,296 of it (KFF, 2024). Under an affordable or free-at-point-of-service system, that fixed monthly weight shrinks toward predictability — or disappears from the kitchen table entirely.
- The job and the coverage come apart
- A layoff, a career change, or a new small business would no longer put a family's care at risk. Work becomes a choice you make toward a better life, not a hostage arrangement for your insurance card.
- Early care replaces emergency care
- When the visit is affordable, people go sooner. We believe a system that removes the price barrier at the moment of need treats illness earlier, when it is cheaper and kinder to treat.
Where This Stands
An honest accounting of where we are
120K or Less is a movement in formation. Here is exactly what this plank is today — and what we commit to before we ask for your trust.
- Today — a stated destinationAffordable or free-at-point-of-service care through publicly funded or universal options is our advocacy goal. It is not current law, and we do not pretend the road is short.
- Before launch — the homeworkSerious models differ — on financing, on the role of private plans, on transition. We commit to publishing costed proposals with our assumptions shown, alongside the strongest arguments against each option, so members can judge with open eyes.
- At launch — members decide the routeOne member, one vote. The working majority — not donors, not consultants — will choose which model this movement carries into the public square.
Common questions
Which healthcare model does 120K or Less endorse?
Is this a partisan position?
Would this weaken Medicare?
Keep Reading
Related planks of the platform
Federal Income Tax Relief
Reduce or eliminate federal income tax for earners at $120,000 or less — while fully maintaining Social Security and Medicare payroll funding.
Read the plank →
Protect Social Security & Medicare
About 68 million Americans receive Social Security benefits (SSA, 2024). Protect it, strengthen it, never privatize it.
Read the plank →
Economic Opportunity
Better-paying jobs, lower cost of living, affordable housing, and room for small business to grow.
Read the plank →Your Work. Your Voice. Your Future.
Healthcare worthy of the people who do the work
Membership is free, and every member gets one vote on the route we take. If a family premium the size of half a median wage sounds wrong to you, you already belong here.
Membership opens at national launch. Joining the list now reserves your place.