"John R. Carroll" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:
"Ignoramus31606" wrote in
message ...

There is some evidence that the lousy individual health insurance
situation in this country has been a barrier for MANY potential
startups.

It isn't just startups, Ed.
I saw a story about a college kid diagnosed with a disease that was
expensive to treat. IIRC, he was a grad student and pretty exceptional.
In the end, he dropped out of school and went to work for one of the
midwest's big sporting goods or hardware chains at a pretty modest wage as
a
full time employee in order to have coverage that would pay for his
treatment.

He's still got his student loans and will probably get work suitable to
his
education and training but he's otherwise dead in the water.
That sort of thing seems a terrible waste to me.

It is, any way you look at it. As health care reform develops and unfolds,
it should put an end to that waste, and to the burden faced by many US
employers involved in international trade. Many countries completely unload
that burden from employers -- although it does show up in taxes of various
types. But the direct addition to manufacturing costs from health care
insurance is much less among several of our important trading partners.

--
Ed Huntress