Our son Eric turned 23 in January and is no longer covered under my partner Sally’s family health insurance, which continues to cover her, our 20-year-old daughter Emma and me. Eric is still wrapped up in that classic, compelling, entrepreneurial American struggle to make a small business successful, now 18 months into that effort with the outcome still in doubt due in large part to launching the business just half a year before our current severe recession took full hold. As is often the case when one launches a business, Eric is taking little or no money out of it to pay himself, and is therefore living on a shoestring, which now includes living without any sort of health care coverage. Continue reading →