Don Boudreaux and others (see his post for links) are chewing on Malcolm Gladwell's assertion that our system of employer-provided medical insurance hurts our international competitiveness. Don raises several objections; I offer another.

Studies show that employees bear most of the burden of employer-provided benefits. Hence if government health care somehow relieved businesses of providing medical insurance for their employees (ignoring for the moment the taxation necessary to fund the program), cash compensation would rise and there would be little change in total labor cost and firms' "competitiveness."