the government requires businesses to pay for health care because they offer large tax breaks that businesses must take in order to remain competitive. If not, there would probably be personal accounts, which make more sense from a market point of view - but since when did government care about a market point of view?
Not exactly true. WalMart is the poster child for this. They don't offer health benefits, and they are competitive.
Other companies would do the same thing if they weren't hampered by Union contracts.