Right off the bat, the reporter notes the key difference in outcomes for the two unemployed men: the American lost his health benefits and the German did not. I'm no fan of employer-based health "benefits", largely because they artificially inflate the number of uninsured. So, I have long advocated tax reform to give American families the same tax-break as American businesses for health insurance. It would make the price of health benefits transparent and give workers better opportunity to save money for a spell of unemployment, which they could use to pay premiums.

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