Health care and older workers

Following on the heels of my health care manifesto I noticed this very important point about employer-provided health care:

One effect of employer-based insurance is that insurance companies are dictating to employers, through pricing schemes, who gets to work. It is undeniable that many workers over the age of fifty find themselves out of jobs and unable to find similar employment due to the prohibitive costs of insuring older workers. I have seen the monthly health insurance bill for a small business. The premium for the 54-year-old worker was more than four times that of the under-30-year-old. Tax exemption only reduces the size of the difference marginally.

In other words the linkage with employment promotes discrimination against older workers. There should be no connection between health care and employment.