The company wants workers to pay more of the bill.
And he hopes the nation's 118 million workers will pay more attention, too.
Workers who go elsewhere must pay part of the cost.
The worker eventually paid back $4,500 and kept his job, he said.
The industry wants workers to pay 15 percent of their health insurance premiums, which total $9,700 a year.
Many workers are now paying more for less coverage than they once had.
Workers in both sectors pay taxes for the common good.
The union's current workers do not pay premiums for their basic health plan.
Social Security is not an insurance policy in which workers pay premiums to cover their own benefits.
When he was 17, social workers found him an apartment and paid his rent.