

Encouraging entrepreneurship via policy? - aarghh
http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14743944&source=hptextfeature

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fpgeek
In my opinion, the #1 thing US policymakers could do for entrepreneurship is
to fix our broken health care system.

I'll share a personal anecdote: My wife and I have a daughter with significant
medical needs. The only reason I can even _contemplate_ being an entrepreneur
is because I live in Massachusetts, where we have guaranteed access to health
insurance that is only priced by age and zip code. In any other state, because
of her pre-existing conditions I would have to choose between being an
entrepreneur and taking care of my daughter's health.

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fnid
Yes, this is the real issue. Even for a healthy entrepreneur, health insurance
costs more than hosting.

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fpgeek
I was actually a bit surprised to learn that YC _doesn't_ (as far as I could
tell) have some sort of starter group insurance pool for their companies.

Keeping entrepreneurs off of the individual market (and distracted by the
nonsense of dealing with health-insurance in general) seems like another small
way to add value by improving the odds of success. That being said, I'd
totally understand if there were legal or other practical barriers to doing
something like that.

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camccann
Most people going through YC are probably in the "can get away with being
uninsured" demographic--young, male, healthy, single, childless, and not
frequently engaged in activities hazardous to health--and for those who can do
so, not having health insurance at all is the best way to not be distracted by
it.

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fpgeek
Well, some percentage of the "can get away with being uninsured" demographic
actually _can't_ ... they just don't know it yet. In those cases, I'd imagine
the impact on the startup of the uninsured founder is very negative. But I
understand that those cases might be rare enough with YC's target demographic
that it isn't worth the time / effort to prevent them.

That being said, as someone who isn't in that demographic (but is thinking
seriously about a startup), the soft "can get away with being uninsured / or
can juggle health insurance on top of everything else" is personally
frustrating (and was what inspired my comments above). For me, it would be a
reason not to try the YC route (to be weighed against the reasons to try it,
of course).

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camccann
_Well, some percentage of the "can get away with being uninsured" demographic
actually can't ... they just don't know it yet._

Well, yes. Being uninsured is a reverse lottery--you gain a modest benefit
with a small chance of an extremely negative result. For the demographic in
question it's quite possibly a positive expected utility anyway. I think it's
unfortunate that people who _do_ need health insurance are potentially
excluded from being entrepreneurs but I can't really fault YC for not tackling
the issue.

And hey, if it frustrates you sufficiently--if at some point you do launch a
startup and get a hefty cash-out, you could put some of that money toward
lobbying the government on issues that would make entrepreneurship more
accessible to a wider demographic. Seems like something that could have a
greater positive impact on society than a lot of other causes...

------
known
I think to inject real Competition into the economy via Entrepreneurs, Govt
must regulate Market Capitalization.

