Good article in the T-T-T-T-Times about the burden health care places on small businesses, and the role it plays in convincing eager entrepreneurs that the safety of their corporate jobs shouldn't be sacrificed for the uncertainty of a start-up.
Once upon a time, Ms. Smith and Mr. Lueders had generous benefits from their employers and gave little thought to how medical care would be paid. But today, as owners of a consulting firm in Liberty, Mo., and a transmission franchise in North Kansas City, it is a constant struggle.
“When we worked for someone else, life was good,” she said. “We had plenty of money and health care. Now we live with the constant fear of something. You never know, you just hold your breath. We will probably have one of us go back and get a full-time job at some point.”
You know, it's hard, but not impossible, to scrape by on a low income for a couple years. For most folks, such periods of (relative) poverty are transient and endurable. The prospect of a broken arm, a tumor, or a slipped disc changes that equation radically. And the fundamental insecurity of lacking defense against such mishaps is screamingly unsettling.
What's fun about the universal health care argument is how many facets it has. A good plan would be more efficient, more just, more economical, and more effective. It would also, in a positive liberty sense, enhance freedom and choice. Guaranteed health coverage would act as a bodyguard of sorts, allowing Americans to take economic risks, play weekend ball without fear, and live happily ever after with Natalie Portman. And, in the end, isn't that the sort of public good the government should be protecting?
