What about health insurance?

10 points by ryantmulligan 18 years ago | 16 comments

inklesspen 18 years ago |

This was asked a while back, and had some interesting responses, so here's a link to the last discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=8676

SwellJoe 18 years ago |

I've got Unicare's cheapest plan and pay about $80/month. It'll cover anything terrible, and otherwise I'm an active healthy vegetarian non-smoking 30-something male. Women pay more in this age range, but not a huge amount more.

If you can't handle paying $30 co-pay for doctors visits, and similar on prescriptions, and having no dental or vision, then you're probably not quite ready to dive into business--unless you raise money. You do need health insurance. A single illness can wipe out your company in very short order--and not just because you're not on the job while recovering. The corporate veil is thin very early on, and if you've got corporate money in the bank, your debtors will want it.

cwilbur 18 years ago | |

Seconded. In the past year I've wound up visiting the hospital twice for things that were, in the words of my doctor, "total random flukes" -- not lifestyle related, could have happened to anyone. Fortunately, they were fairly easy to fix. Total cost, $75 per visit. If I had had no health insurance and went to the hospital anyway, I'd have been looking at a five figure bill, and probably bankruptcy, for either of them; if I had no health insurance and did not go to the hospital for either, I'd probably be dead now. Or the ambulance would have taken me to the hospital, and I'd be that much more in debt.

You need health insurance. Bad things happen. Flukes happen. It's not about having the balls to face the risk of no health insurance and stare it in the face; it's about careful planning - the same kind of planning that means you incorporate instead of trusting the chance that nobody will sue you.

jdwyah 18 years ago |

Can be very state dependent.

If you're non-smoking 22, you should be able to get catastrophic coverage ($5,000+ deductible) starting around $80/month (but more like $110 if you want it from a company you've heard of)

Vermont on the other hand, $5,000 deductible HSA's are $191, so it definitely depends.

None of these plans will have much (any) in the way of preventative care, etc. And a broken arm will come right out of your pocket for a couple k. You're max should be 5k if you get something terrible.

For a full featured plan I'd budget $400+. When I quit, my CORBA rate was going to be $542/month. (That's what my employer was paying for me)

lupin_sansei 18 years ago |

Here's a thought: In most Western countries health is supplied for "free" by the government (which deducts a premium from people's taxes). Such a person has no option to temporarily stop paying for health services, but an American can take that gamble. I wonder if this option amounts to another slight advantage that American startups can have over other Western countries? Namely the option to increase your wages slightly for a while in exchange for a reduced health service.

cwilbur 18 years ago | |

What the lack of socialized health care in the United States means is that instead of the government paying a little bit for preventative and maintenance care, the government pays a lot as elderly and poor people who have lived a life with no preventative or maintenance care need expensive prescriptions and expensive treatments.

This might be a slight advantage in the short run for those whose startups are successful.

lupin_sansei 18 years ago | | |

"What the lack of socialized health care in the United States means is that instead of the government paying a little bit for preventative and maintenance care, the government pays a lot as elderly and poor people who have lived a life with no preventative or maintenance care need expensive prescriptions and expensive treatments."

What preventative and maintenance care exactly? I've lived in countries with (mostly) socialized health care all my life and I'm not noticing any government run preventative and maintenance care really.

Did you make the above up or do you have some links to it?

lupin_sansei 18 years ago |

As a technology startup why would I want "heath" insurance? I'm not likely to need extensive tracts of uncultivated open land covered with herbage and low shrubs.

http://www.answers.com/heath&r=67

ryantmulligan 18 years ago |

Soon I will be out of school and won't be able to get health insurance from sources like parents or school. Does anyone have a suggestions for how they got health insurance, or what is a good method for finding a good provider? Also, how much did it cost?

gyro_robo 18 years ago |

In Calfornia at least, HealthNet is less expensive than some others. Assuming you rarely go in, get a PPO, and you won't go bankrupt if you ever have large medical bills. For little things you pay out of pocket.

kingnothing 18 years ago |

Check out www.ehealthinsurance.com

I bought mine there.

joshwa 18 years ago |

Do folks build this into their business plans?

mikesabat 18 years ago |

First of all, you're 23+ and ante-ing up in the big game so stop f-cking around. This means no fights, no drinking & driving and quit doing the stupid shit that impressed girls when you were 15.

This will seriously reduce your need for insurance.

If you don't have the stones to live with bad insurance (unless you have serious prescription needs) you probably can't handle the risk associated with starting a company anyway.

There are cheap policies that keep my parents from flipping out. I pay $37 a month through anthem.

lupin_sansei 18 years ago | |

What geeks fight/drink to impress girls?

mikesabat 18 years ago | | |

I'd say that between the ages of 18-23 your chances of doing something stupid (fighting, drinking) and needing to file a claim should be much greater than your chances of filing a claim for legitimate and unavoidable reasons (tuberculosis).

If you eliminate the stupid reasons, do you really need to worry about insurance?