Virtually all economic growth comes from small businesses and startups. If we're "optimizing for overall economic productivity", we should be bending over backwards as a society to make it as easy as possible to start businesses! The existing employer-provided model strongly discriminates against small businesses and startups. Providing insurance to employees is both a cost and a bureaucratic overhead. Big corporations have much more negotiating power and can get better prices than small businesses. They have much more staff and can afford dedicated HR staff to deal with insurance.
Moreover, in the case of expensive or catastrophic coverage, society is picking up those costs anyway (or alternately, just letting people die). Your premiums then go to cover the costs of people who wound up declaring bankruptcy. And no insurance (or bad insurance) cuts into preventative care that can detect problems early, when they're much cheaper to treat.
I support the ACA (or better yet, much more socialized models) because I want to optimize for overall economic productivity.
My point is that for the median entrepreneur or small business owner, the ACA made it harder. Increases in premiums are not trivial.
I agree an employer based model does discriminate against startups, but my point is that the ACA also makes it harder for the median entrepreneur to succeed. The fact that the fringe cases can start companies does not to me justify the drain on all other entrepreneurs.
Moreover, in the case of expensive or catastrophic coverage, society is picking up those costs anyway (or alternately, just letting people die). Your premiums then go to cover the costs of people who wound up declaring bankruptcy. And no insurance (or bad insurance) cuts into preventative care that can detect problems early, when they're much cheaper to treat.
I support the ACA (or better yet, much more socialized models) because I want to optimize for overall economic productivity.