[ajmurmann]

The article says that lower mobility is caused by insurance being coupled to your employer. Yes, you can get health insurance on your own but there are a lot of issues with quitting and getting your own insurance or even moving to a different employer. If you get your own insurance you don't get the same tax breaks employers get. They also have not bargaining power with the insurance. Your new insurance, at your new employer might not have your current doctor covered. There is so much at stake with changing health insurance that it's quite frankly a little scary. Nobody wants to risk accidentally not having coverage for a few weeks because you filled in some form wrong. So it's easiest to just stay at your employer who carries most of the cost and you keep what you have already.