When you consider that in the UK NI is 11/12% and that covers the NHS and your state pension plus SERPS (second state pension) and unemployment benefits.
I knew a guy who emigrated to the USA and was working for CITI and was paying a bigger % of his pay just for his health cover.
NI isn't hypothecated - the money the government collects through NI is thrown into the pot with almost all other taxes. NHS & pension payments come out of general taxation.
so its not coming out of my pay and companies don't have the expense of running their own health systems and they dont need to employ extra HR people to administer them. It also means that startups don't have to compete against big companies that can afford health benefits which act to lock employees into big companies
I knew a guy who emigrated to the USA and was working for CITI and was paying a bigger % of his pay just for his health cover.