Over the past couple of years I’ve contemplated starting various businesses but have been reluctant to do so for a variety of reasons. I briefly had a partnership in a consulting company many years ago but had to sell my portion off because of the heavy toll of commitments in my life at the time.

One of the primary reasons I was glad to sell at the time was because of the onerous cost of health insurance. It’s funny to think about it now because health insurance has gone up by at least 150% since those days years ago. I have no doubt that companies are crippled, or at the very least, have a huge albatross around their necks because of the health insurance mess. If you need a detailed example, look into the big 3 auto manufacturers for more detail.

One of the primary reasons I’ve stayed with a corporation is because of health insurance benefits, I would need to spend over $15,000/year to get the coverage that currently cost me about $1,500 per year. That’s right, the company picks up about $14,000 of my health insurance tab and that’s pretty good these days.

Imagine trying to start up a business and know that you’ll be immediately in the hole 15k to provide health insurance for ONE employee! Add a couple of more employees and you’re in the hole 45k for just the first year of starting a business!

Now if the government steps in with some sort of nationalized health care plan and picks up the $14,000 tab then I can start a company with 3 employees and know that I’ll only need to shell out $4,500 for health insurance; this is VERY manageable!

I’m not advocating social medicine since there will likely be deterioration of the medical system at some point but at the very least if my business becomes profitable, I can buy supplemental insurance to augment the benefits to a higher tier in the system.

Quite honestly, I’ve been spurned by the “free market” system of health care because it has never been given a chance to be truly free market. If the government is going to mandate “equality” in premiums and coverage then there is no free market. If I drive drunk, get speeding tickets, and act recklessly I can expect my auto insurance company to raise or cancel my auto insurance and not too many people would think wrong of the auto insurance company for doing so yet if I eat big macs every day, don’t exercise, consume alcohol and cigars daily, my health insurance provider has no recourse to cancel my health insurance or raise premiums without being accused of some type of discriminatory or predatory behavior. The health insurance company is expected to cover my heart attacks, liver disease and anything else wrong with me.

I’m willing to see what would happen in a quasi-socialized medicine world because we now have socialized banks, insurance companies and soon auto manufacturers and maybe social medicine will set them all free.