Much has been made of John McCain's suggestions regarding small business health insurance, individual coverage, and taxes. McCain's plan would involve removing tax breaks for employers who offer coverage, and offering refundable tax credits instead to those individuals who opt to pay for coverage themselves.

Critics argue that this would lead many employers to abandon small business health insurance policies, particularly if health coverage would no longer be a lucrative means of attracting workers.

On the other side, we have to admit that fewer and fewer employers can afford to offer insurance these days. Premiums have risen so quickly in recent years that many employers can't afford to offer coverage, or can't afford to offer very good coverage at any rate.

But then there's also the issue of the splitting of markets, as it's addressed at Kaiser's Daily Health Policy Report. If healthy, younger employers can save money by switching to individual coverage, then only older or less healthy employees will continue to rely on small business health insurance polices.

This could lead to a situation where employer based insurance costs would actually go up, and individual costs would go down (but only for those who could qualify for such policies).

Whether or not employers would drop their policies is its own argument, with some believing it won't happen while others say it absolutely will. But, with no restrictions on the denial of coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, it's likely that the probable boom in individual health insurance would leave many people unable to qualify for health coverage at all.