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I wonder what the social safety net is like in Portugal. It looks like they have national health service, so maybe dealing with employee health insurance is one worry their entrepreneurs would lack.

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Public health services are sub-par, if you want the best standard of care you'll need to go private. Ironically, government workers qualify for a special health insurance, which allows them to use most private hospitals.

Also, part of your salary goes into paying social welfare, and the employer pays some of it as well (about 11% from the employee and 22% from the employer). No idea how that compares to the US.

That's correct, although most bigger companies do offer a health insurance (mostly to avoid waiting lists in the public health providers). In any case, private health insurance in portugal only costs a few dozen euros per month.

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