

Ask YC: Where/how do YC founders get health insurance? - daviday

And how many founders live without insurance in the beginning?
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jackchristopher
These are old but the Ask YC Archive has good advice. Here are the threads on
Health Care:
[http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/startupswiki/Ask_YC_Archive#t...](http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/startupswiki/Ask_YC_Archive#toc6)

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bhousel
As a freelancer I've used ehealthinsurance.com to buy my own health insurance
in the past. But this depends a LOT where you live: It used to cost me around
$75/month for decent coverage in the Philadelphia suburbs vs around $300/month
for bare bones coverage in the NYC suburbs (North Jersey).

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icey
If you put some contact information in your profile (or contact me at my
username at my username dot net) I can put you in touch with someone who can
at least get you some quotes from a bunch of different carriers at no cost to
you. (i.e. a broker)

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ScottWhigham
HSA accounts with a high deductible plan are a great way to self insure and
save money. We have the $5300 deductible plan for my family via Assurant and
fund our HSAs to pay the costs. For a family of four, we pay about $320/month.

We do have health expenditures that we cover out of our own pocket but it
generally adds to be less than what we would spend for a $500 deductible plan
with all the amenities.

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uptown
Used to get mine through the FreelancersUnion, but they screwed with their
health insurance way too many times for it to be a viable option for me. As a
result, I buy mine from ehealthinsurance.com and got a policy from United that
fits my needs. Also, if your startup has more than one employee, you can form
your own group, and get better group rates ... even if only one of you signs
onto a policy.

~~~
joubert
How did they mess up? I'm considering them.

~~~
uptown
They changed their provider each year, forcing everybody to re-evaluate your
insurance with a completely different company with different plans each year
for three years. Frequently your doctors wouldn't accept the new company's
plans, so we were forced to pay out-of-network to keep our doctors, or change
to a new doctor. Each year they were extremely late in providing information
about the change. Their phone system broke down EVERY year during enrollment
periods, and the people on the phones frequently gave out incomplete or
innacurate information. They then decided to become their own insurance
company. The details about the plans they offered was vague at best, and they
were unable to provide clarification on maximum out-of-pocket costs on phone
conferences with some very specific questions. It felt like they had a
conflict of interest in that they were trying to sell their company rather
than provide potential applicants with information to decide whether it was
the right solution for them. I jumped ship at this point, and only use them
for my dental insurance. I figure if they're unable to operate something as
basic as a phone bank, I don't want them trying to administer my health
insurance.

There's a lot on the web about their screw-ups. Here's one link with some
coverage:

<http://gawker.com/tag/freelancers-union/>

[http://community2.myfoxny.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickA...](http://community2.myfoxny.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=7033613&as=6475)

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mattculbreth
I had COBRA for many months from my former employer (worked well, very
expensive). Then I found an excellent broker in the Atlanta area and got a
good HSA plan from Aetna. So far so good, much cheaper, provided we don't have
claims.

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garnet7
When I've had the option in the past of using COBRA, it's always been so
astronomically expensive that I've passed, and instead taken out a policy
elsewhere.

My guess has always been that COBRA is probably something that's required by
law for employers to offer, but there's probably some loophole somewhere that
allows them to price it so high that very few people actual take them up on
it.

~~~
modoc
The pricing for COBRA is the same price that your plan cost overall through
the company (I think maybe they can charge an additional 5% to cover
administration costs). So you're just seeing the true cost of the plan your
old employer provided. They can't jack up the price on you.

~~~
ShabbyDoo
The other problem is that you're seeing the AVERAGE cost of the plan. So,
while you as a 20-something single guy would get a great rate from
Aetna/whoever, you're paying for old fat smoker when you go with COBRA.

I've bought insurance through Cleveland's COSE (Council of Smaller
Enterprises) in the past. Pretty expensive, but really good coverage (I have a
family).

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kaiserama
I'm not a YC founder but I got an individual plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield
(MN) through ehealthinsurance.com. It is an excellent plan (so far) and wasn't
nearly what I was expecting to pay (<$150/mo).

~~~
garnet7
Is it a high-deductible plan?

Also, I've dealt with BCBS in the past and could never get anyone on the phone
if I had an issue.

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pj
I highly do _not_ recommend BlueCross Blue Shield. They are not a reputable
company. They will cancel your plan without telling you. I went to a doctor
once thinking my plan was fine only to be told days later that my insurance
had been canceled months before with no notification from BCBS and becuase it
was beyond 60 days, they would not reactivate my plan, even when I offered to
pay for the months when it was canceled.

YMMV, but I will never be a BCBS customer again.

~~~
pauldino
BCBS isn't a single company; it's an association of independent health care
plans of varying quality.

~~~
pj
You're correct, mine was in California. But they've tainted the reputation of
the _brand_ IMO and I won't use any of them from any state anymore.

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fdesmet
<http://www.midwestlife.com>

