Boom!

> Instead I keep on because my wife is going back to school and such, so everything relies on me.

This has been so apparent to me over the last 20 years. I've seen so many people who wanted to switch jobs - perhaps a move to other parts of the country for a new job - but are very tied to employer-provided insurance. People with family members with varying health issues often feel especially 'stuck' to particular jobs because of the 'good' insurance, perhaps tied to specific regional hospitals with specific networks of doctors and specialists. I've heard this from multiple colleagues over the years and it's so disheartening. We've got so much unlocked human potential, and we get tied to specific areas because of arbitrary self-imposed constraints. Self-imposed I mean on ourselves as a whole, not individually-imposed.

So so so disheartening...

This is by design. The USA pairing healthcare to your job was on purpose.

Technically it was because businesses were banned from raising wages during WW2 but benefits were exempt.

War bonds, rationing and other measures long since abandoned were introduced then too. How weird would it be if everyone were still limited to 8oz of sugar per month in 2025 due to the exigencies of WW2? It's no less weird when it comes to healthcare being linked to remuneration. Heck, there are better free market approaches not adopted by the US, since its usually horny for that sort of thing, right up until it's pro-labor I guess.

Healthcare wouldn't be nearly as much of the issue it is if it weren't for healthcare administration and the cap on MDs. The private vs public debate becomes way less interesting when the cost drops 90%. Getting rid of that problem should really be everyone's focus.