More On Health Care And Markets

Another good point by Ezra:

So don’t get angry at Wal-Mart; they’re doing exactly what the market demands. Get angry at lawmakers. Health care simply does not allow the job market to function correctly. Employees can’t change jobs for fear of losing benefits, employers can’t hire full-time workers because they don’t want to pay their insurance, companies need to cherry-pick hires to find the healthiest applicants, and a variety of other strategies are used by employees desperate to keep or gain health coverage and employers terrified by rising premiums. As the Harry and Louise ads that sunk Clinton Care so often said, “there’s got to be a better way.” There is. If only our lawmakers had the guts to pursue it.

Although it makes perfect sense, I had never really fully thought through all the ways in which relying on private employers for health insurance distorts the job market. And, of course, what many people have discussed is the extent to which not having universal health insurance makes losing a job much more catastrophic than it otherwise would be. Dynamic economies need to shed jobs in order to create new ones, and I’ve never been a supporter of using protectionism to save decaying industries. But part of the social contact should be that losing your job shouldn’t leave you and your family stranded without health insurance.