No, because health insurance has always been available to individuals (and families). We've never needed to go through our employers to get it. But back before WWII health insurance was pretty much not used at all; health care was so cheap that it cost less than food or clothes. During WWII Congress passed laws that fixed the price of goods, services, and wages. This started to lead to shortages. Combined with the draft, many industries were competing over fewer and fewer employees, but legally they could not raise wages. Instead they started offering perks such as tips from the customers or “free” health insurance. Even companies that don’t offer free insurance usually split the cost with their employees, and often they do get a slightly lower rate because all their employees are shopping from the same company. And it’s not like you can raise your salary by negotiating out of the insurance; the employer likely pays the same amount to the insurance company regardless. The insurance lowers our salaries no matter what we do; might as well take it.

Gradually these perks started to become as important of a consideration as the salary itself. Unfortunately health insurance is easily misused. We started relying on it to pay for all health care, rather than to actually mitigate the risk of a sudden medical bill. The result has been a rapid and continual increase in the price of health care over the last 70–80 years caused directly by the fact that nobody pays for the services they use, but instead pays into insurance plans that then pay for the care.

In fact, I think this guy overstated the risk to his health. If you get fired you don’t actually lose your insurance. You sign up for continuation of coverage from COBRA, taking over payments for the insurance from your employer, and then purchase an individual or family insurance plan of your own before COBRA runs out. Or get hired somewhere else and sign on to one of their insurance plans. Either way you’ve lost nothing, at least in terms of health care.