General Assembly should make portable benefits a top priority

Leadership in the Georgia General Assembly has been crystal clear about one thing: The 2026 legislative session’s number one priority is tackling issues of affordability. Namely, identifying and implementing tangible steps to ease the financial burden plaguing Georgians. Rep. Todd Jones, R-Cumming, is at the vanguard of this effort—and not a moment too soon.

Since the pandemic, just about everything has gotten vastly more expensive. The average price of owning a car has increased over 40% since January 2020; the average price of a home in Georgia has surged by around 63% in roughly the same time frame; groceries are up by 27%; and healthcare costs have soared.

Georgians of all stripes feel the sharp pain of this price inflation, but it is particularly acute for some people, including independent contractors. Unlike many W-2 employees, they do not receive any benefits from work. Rather they have to secure them elsewhere, but the high cost of living means that they do not have much left over to purchase health insurance, fund their retirement or even keep for a rainy day.

Jones is thankfully championing an innovative plan to help: implementing a voluntary portable benefits system. “Too many independent workers are forced to choose between flexibility and basic security. Voluntary portable benefits would change that equation,” explained Jones. In contrast with traditional benefits that are linked to employers, portable benefits are tied to workers—meaning no matter where they work, their benefits follow them.

“This legislation ensures Georgians can access affordable healthcare and essential benefits without giving up their independence, their livelihoods or the modern ways they work,” Jones continued. “It’s a common-sense update for the 21st-century workforce.” Under Jones’ model, companies may contribute funds into special accounts owned by independent contractors for the purpose of purchasing whatever benefits they choose, and this would be entirely voluntary on all parties involved.

This is probably already legal in Georgia, but the code doesn’t explicitly state it. So some companies might be wary of contributing funds to such accounts because they worry that this could be viewed as evidence of an employer/employee relationship, which comes with a lot of responsibilities and strings attached. Jones’ measure would clarify all of this and state that such contributions are not evidence of an employer/employee arrangement. This will help independent contractors afford benefits and continue working in their field.

This statutory clarification is sorely needed, too. With the rise of gig work, including driving for Uber, Lyft and DoorDash for instance, Georgia’s labor market has fundamentally changed in recent years, but our laws have not kept pace. Over 1 million Georgians are engaged in some form of self-employment, and a number of them earn solely through gig work. Many like it that way too, because it provides them the flexibility to choose when and how to work. They’re their own bosses.

That flexibility does not currently come with benefits in Georgia, though. To date, there are about 1.2 million uninsured Georgians. Although not all are independent contractors, many of them have no health insurance and want it. A Federal Reserve white paper stated that 28% of gig workers would like health insurance, and another survey disclosed that 80% of self-employed workers would like portable benefits. Jones’ bill could help close the uninsured gap and put other types of benefits within reach of myriad Georgians, while modernizing the code for a changed economy that increasingly relies on independent contractors.

One gig company conducted a pilot program in Georgia to gauge the likely success and desire for portable benefits, and the results were incredibly promising. Nearly 25% of the company’s independent contractors opted into the system and many loved it. They were able to use the funds for a mix of benefits they didn’t previously have ranging from vision, dental and health insurance, to retirement savings, and to time off.

While offering portable benefits is a newer, innovative solution, it isn’t a half-baked, untested paradigm. Utah, Tennessee and Alabama have already enacted portable benefits legislation to the benefit of workers and even to the entities that pay them. The latter is especially true because when companies offer portable benefits contributions to workers, this provides them an advantage over their competitors for talent.

Jones’ bill is a win-win solution. It threads the needle by creating an entirely voluntary system that is pro-worker, pro-business, helps close the uninsured gap and addresses the Legislature’s top priority, affordability, by putting benefits within reach of Georgians. Given this, portable benefits ought to be one of the General Assembly’s top priorities.