Right, that's the good part about consulting, the honesty. The agreement is "Pay me roughly twice what you pay everybody else, and I'll deal with all the benefits stuff myself".

Also included in that price tag is the ability to be let go at any time for any reason. In an ironic way, that actually tips the terms further to the site of consulting, since the reality is that salaried employees will also be let go at any time when the company decides to do so.

So yeah, you have to save some money. Fortunately, they give you a lot extra so that you can.