[dv_dt]

If they were being pragmatic about it, the more universal healthcare systems offered by many EU nations should be a massive advantage for startups vs nations like the US, but the wrong regulations around company operations negates it or worse.

[glimshe]

I didn't want to start a healthcare discussion but employer costs with healthcare in the US can be lower than Europe labor taxes. EmployEE costs is a different thing but many startups have young employees who don't need a whole lot of healthcare in general.

[dv_dt]

The employee healthcare costs don't count, so we can pretend that healthcare costs doesn't detract from performance or the ability to hire talent?

Serious cancers are on the rise among the young and the type of plans you allude to do not provide good coverage. And why limit startups to the young, or limit their ability to have a family? 40+ founders have a higher business success rate.

I think the US is having so many problems now because it wants to half-a** aspects of living that should be solid for false efficency.

Startups should be a voluntary fiscal risk, not a direct risk of life, limb, or family. That's also how you optimize for the success of the startup - by removing distractions and worries that are not directly in the startup proposition.

[glimshe]

I'm not arguing which system is best. I'm just saying this isn't a big advantage for a lot of startups from a purely financial perspective, which was the original point.

Sure, one startup will go down because the young founder had cancer, but that's not common enough to skew the average case too much.

40+ founders like me often had an opportunity to save for healthcare costs with the high salaries in the US plus Obamacare.

It's a fact that people in the US create lots of startups. Maybe the system could be much better (still not comparing to Europe) but it isn't too bad to be honest.