
My plan is to be on my wife's plan - MaysonL
http://www.kyleshank.com/stories/2012/09/17/myPlanIsToBeOnMyWifesPlan.html
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leed25d
You missed a very important one. Veterans have VA health care which, despite
some loud media screaming to the contrary, is actually very good.

I have been a professional programmer since 1974. In 2000 I had a job with no
health benefits, and a situation arose such that I needed to see a doctor. So
I went to the VA asking if I could be seen there and the response was that I
should have been going to the VA all along.

Long story short, I have been going there ever since and it is far better than
any corporate health plan that I have ever been enrolled in.

TL;DR if you are running a startup, hire veterans. They do not need your
health care plan, you probably get some kind of tax credit, and many veterans
have worked under more pressure than you will ever encounter.

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gavanwoolery
When I was on my own for health insurance, I went with Kaiser. It cost
$120/month or so, which is definitely affordable (you may have to make a
choice though - do you really need a cell phone with a data plan, or cable
TV?). Many people bad-mouth Kaiser, even though it is an NPO, for their
service, but I actually had good experiences with them (including a surgery).
Our healthcare system actually _is_ pretty great, if you do not believe me try
getting a major surgery done in another country. We do need to work on
reducing costs (particularly the cost of drugs and medical equipment), but
there will always be a certain cost for healthcare until AI takes over (it
already is doing accurate diagnoses, if you have trouble believing that). Many
people make the mistake that healthcare is a "right" -- it is actually a
commodity, like food, or trash service, or...you name it. I'm not against
universal healthcare, but the money for it has to come from somewhere, and
maybe our government is not the best solution for it given their track record
of screwing up budgets.

~~~
GertG
"Our healthcare system actually is pretty great, if you do not believe me try
getting a major surgery done in another country."

I'm amazed that on a website full of such thoughtful sensible people, an
American would still have this world view of "there's America and there's the
rest of the world, and ours is the best of possible countries".

To give a counter-example to your amazingly broad claim: in Belgium I can have
surgery done, spend 4 days in hospital and have everything except 150 euros
paid by our universal health-care.

Or were you implying that surgery elsewhere is of lesser quality? A lot of
Americans don't seem to agree [1].

[1] 6 Million Americans Travel Abroad Each Year for Surgeries, Medical
Treatments: <http://news.health.com/2009/04/08/traveling-treatment/>

~~~
gavanwoolery
It is not my intention to insult any other countries, or put the US in
competition with them. I am simply stating things as I see them -- I do not
think America is great, we are actually a pretty idiotic country (at least our
government is) and we need to get our act together. So long as it is private
(probably not for long), our healthcare system will be "the best" -- in terms
of quality, but not necessarily cost. Its like comparing a private school to a
public school, or a private bathroom to a public bathroom. You get what you
pay for - which is good and bad for US citizens (good in that we get an
option, bad in that its not free). When you distribute something of a limited
quantity (in this case, healthcare) to everyone for free, you have to make
sacrifices -- or raise taxes even higher. Many countries in Europe pay over 50
percent income tax at the maximum rates. In Canada, doctors only make 42
percent of what US doctors do, so they come here. 800,000 Canadians are on
waiting lists for longer than 18 weeks to see a doctor annually. Britain
cancels about 100k operations annually because it does not have enough doctors
to meet the demand. Many Americans do travel abroad for surgery because it is
cheaper (not necessarily better) - for example here in San Diego it is not
uncommon for people to get Dentistry done in Mexico. All of these numbers I
pulled from Wikipedia, which may or may not be a good source but you can
probably (in)validate the numbers elsewhere.

~~~
bradleyland
Ok, I'll take the bait.

When I was just getting started, I did in-home computer "repair". Because of
my location, I had the opportunity to work for many former executives of large
companies; our zip code has one of the highest densities of former-CEOs in the
nation. One of my customers was/is the former CEO of a pharmaceutical company
that you'd find in the top 3 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in
existence. I've become close (closer than one would expect for a "IT tech"
relationship) with their family. We spend time talking about plenty of things
that aren't computer related, so about a year ago, I was shocked to hear that
he has Alzheimer's.

He is one of the most down-to-earth, most open-minded, most generous people
I've ever met. I genuinely count him as one of the greatest people I've ever
met. As you can imagine, he is well-liked and very well-connected in the
medical industry. Guess where he's getting treatment? Not in the US.

So here is a man with more money than he could ever spend in a lifetime, and
more connections than any average person has, yet he has to go outside the US
to get "cutting edge" treatment for a disease that is far from a fringe case.

I recognize that this is just an anecdote, but it is a superlative one to be
sure. His case is an amalgamation of every factor that one would believe could
lead to a positive result within the healthcare system we have here in the US,
yet that goal has not been reached. If you can't look at that example and
recognize that what we have here is broken, then I don't know what to tell
you.

~~~
gavanwoolery
Thanks, this is an interesting story. As I mentioned, I think there are plenty
of things wrong with our healthcare system, and I only use the word "best" in
a very broad sense - for example, the US has the highest rate of success for
therapies and surgery (In Britain, for example, only half as many people
survive colon cancer, although that could be related to any number of
factors). I am sure there are many experimental areas of medicine where the US
does not excel, because we have to wade through so much red tape to get
anything approved.

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jvoorhis
I'm not sure what point he's trying to get across, beyond a description of the
current American healthcare situation wrt. founders.

My wife is an entrepreneur. I've thought about starting up at various points
in recent years and health insurance is one issue that has given me pause.
Right now, I'm happy to have a great job doing what I love that provides
benefits for us both.

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urlwolf
Well, here in Germany I pay 400 eur for health insurance. And if I quit, I'll
pay even more if I ever want to go back to it.

In Spain, the public health system is free and works surprisingly well
(believe it or not). If you want private coverage, I think the montly payments
all hoover around 60 eur.

Why Germany is x10 as expensive, I'd like to know.

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lasertron
So are you saying this is demeaning to yourself in some way?

