If this is true, why don't countries with universal healthcare have a proportionally larger/more active startup scene than the US? They don't, so that means, logically, healthcare isn't that important to a country's startup success.
Of course healthcare isn't the only factor, but it's a huge boon for anyone considering starting a business.
The reality is that health extortion - let's not call it health insurance - in the US has a massively depressive effect on small business opportunity.
Generally opportunity increases as cost of entry decreases. It's easy to start a spare-time online micro-business in the US, but it's incredibly hard, dangerous, and expensive to start a full-time company now - unless you're already independently wealthy, or can do the investor dance with sufficient credibility.
The combination of high costs and investor demand for the next unicorn means there are far fewer unspectacular but profitable small businesses in the US than there might be.
It's mistaken to conclude that universal healthcare isn't important. If you look at the nations with a better social safety net, many also often have more regulations that might hold up new business formation. But if you look at nations which have fixed both healthcare and have smarter regulations, there are a lot more small businesses.
