To the editor:

In the United States, tens of millions, probably even a majority, of employees still receive health care coverage paid for at least in part (and in most cases primarily) by their employers. And, if I’m not mistaken, employers provide such partial or complete coverage in addition to paying half of the payroll taxes for Medicare and Medicaid.

Imagine an alternative like that of Britain, France, Canada, Denmark and other first world countries: universal health care available to everyone, paid for by everyone, with employers off the hook. No more man-hours of research seeking the private plan that is good enough to satisfy employees yet affordable for their company.  No more hassles with insurance companies, health insurance paperwork, expensive record-keeping, negotiations with employees or unions over level of health-care benefits, etc.

Also, no more worries by employees about losing those health care benefits if they quit their jobs or get laid off or fired, any more than Medicare recipients worry about losing their benefits if they move to another state; they would be completely portable. If I were an employer, I would welcome getting the health insurance monkey off my back, and I could probably lay off half my human resources staff in the bargain, because their workload would be so substantially reduced.