If health care/insurance is not tied to employment in some countries, how do employers keep workers?

You pay them more and you treat them with respect! This isn't rocket science! No one wants to be treated like cattle! "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Remember that rule? Why do you think it's called "The Golden Rule"?

I think it's great if someone truly wants to be an artist, a poet, or a writer, and has to get started somehow. If they are willing to sit in their hovel and grind out their work for higher ideals, like someone driven to create (Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Van Gogh come to mind.). The US needs more art and if you ask me "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Another truism. The US is getting incredibly dull, if you ask me; and if you recall, you did.

Being chained to your job is just one step above actual slavery! The next step will be a plastic tag stapled to your ear!

Your argument is why Health Insurance and retirement should not be tied to your employer. If everyone was responsible for their own Health Insurance and retirement, they would make better decisions in life. They would take care of their bodies, They would put a little money away each week in an investment they would select and control.

You are correct, if the benefits were the responsibility of each person, they would have more leverage on where and when to work. Companies would compete for the best workers. No longer would the worker be an economic slave to the company.

They have to be better employers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica...

You are right, thanks to these reforms in the US, like nations elsewhere, employers will not be able to use health coverage as a means to bait workers as much as they did before. But they will still be able to use it in part as they can offer better packages than those many will have access to.

Why does no other developed nation have the US model of healthcare? Because in the US model, insurance companies use death panels to deny care to those they are meant to cover. And then they raise costs [1]. Not only does the USA spend more on healthcare than any other nation [2], it finds itself bottom of the table when it comes to preventable deaths due to treatable conditions when it comes to developed nations [3]. The sad thing is that rather than focus on these things, the right spreads lies and half truths about the reforms and how healthcare works abroad [4]. Even sadder is the fact that the reforms are so simple [5]. But, if you think that my points are wrong, e-mail me with proof.

If the employment offer has a carrot benefit - Australians would take free fuel over a healthcare package why? the price of fuel we have little or no control over unlike the choice of healthcare Erm..... gun ownership has strict controls, just because the gun shops exist doesn't mean open season for all in buying a firearm Viva Australia....I credit the payment of a realistic basic wage in this country as the best start to independence anyone can have

It is better to keep employees unchained to their jobs. Because there is no job lock, people in those situations have more flexibility to start a business or use their free time more to their needs. If you believe in free market capitalism and believe individuals should have the choice to decide how to spend their time, removing job lock is the best policy.

Also, employer focus on giving more pay or more perks to the employee. The Japanese have universal health care for several years but their work ethic is not compromised because of that.

Health insurance may keep a lot of people tied to jobs they would otherwise not be doing, but they probably are not doing very much at those jobs. There is more to productivity than keeping people locked in a 9 to 5 job.

People still need a paycheck, that darn rent or mortgage keeps coming up every month like a bad penny.

And the kids....they eat pretty regular or they complain, and their shoes? Well if you ever had kids you know their feet grow an inch right after you buy them a pair.

But you knew that, you are simply pointing out that allow people access to affordable healthcare, instead of being chained to jobs, some of which no longer offer group plans to the lower levels of workers, encourages entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow and exist.

Oh wow.. You make it sound like you would enjoy being a slave. Seriously "keep in line", "chained to their jobs"??? People need jobs, and jobs need people. It should be a relationship based on respect from both sides. There are so many surveys showing that people who enjoy their job (aka doesn't get whipped around) do better work.

As for freelance. Most people don't have the luxury of jumping from one job to another. Things cost money everywhere. "Who is to stop him" sheesh...

Health care although a big part of ones existence it is not all. In the grander scheme of things working for the wants and not just the needs is far more pleasurable.

risk-taking is just exactly that....for both the employer and employee

find an employee worth keeping - raise the pay /incentive

By the same token if your employment kills the joy of waking up every day I'd sooner

save my sanity and hope my general health follows suit