The last thing America needs with high unemployment and a stalled economy is an innovation gap.

Yet that is exactly what we have.

You wouldn’t know it with the near constant release of new cell phones and computer tablets, but Americans just aren’t striking out on their own like they used to.

Recessions have traditionally been a popular time to start a business, but not this time around.

Job creation by start-up companies is at its lowest level since 1980, according to the Census Bureau. Since 2006, meanwhile, job creation by start-up businesses has dropped by 34 percent.

There are a variety of reasons for that.

First, money for start-ups dried up during the banking crisis of 2007, and small firms have found it especially difficult to bankroll new ideas.

Second, millions of Americans were left “under water” during the housing crisis, strapped to homes that are now worth less than what they owe on them.

Home equity has been a traditional source of start-up cash for past generations of entrepreneurs.

In an ideal economy, both talent and capital are fluid. In other words, they flow to the best new ideas with the highest rate of return.

In other words, the economy is best served when workers feel free to move from one job to the next, or even start their own firm.

That flexibility is the well-spring of innovation.

One of the biggest factors now inhibiting that flexibility is health care insurance.

Research shows that 1.5 million workers who would switch jobs do not each year because of health insurance concerns, according to The New York Times.

Some of those people would have started new companies, but they were worried about finding health care coverage.

In reality, however, not all of those people wanted to start and grow new companies.

Many more may simply have been afraid to leave a large employer that offers health care coverage at an affordable rate to join a start-up that might offer a less generous health care plan, or offer no insurance at all.

Some people feel locked into their current job by having a pre-existing condition, or having a wife or child with one. They fear being unable to find insurance on their own or even with another employer.

There is little doubt that American businesses and workers are at a competitive disadvantage due to high medical expenses.

Health costs eat up more than 17 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product each year, compared to slightly more than 10 percent in Canada and other industrial nations.

Employers and their employees pay for all of that, either in insurance premiums, out-of-pocket expenses or in Medicare/Medicaid taxes.

Until we find a way to control costs, and make health insurance portable, innovation and employment will suffer.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.