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Comment by Negative1 | Hacker News Reader

I've heard Health Insurance is pretty expensive if you are self-employed. How did you deal with that? Is your wife also employed in which case you are just able to share hers?

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I did buy obamacare for a year or so but now my wife works and we use her health insurance. I will be in deep shit if I have to buy out of own pocket (family of 4). So yes, that helps a lot as well.

Yes. This is common (in the US) for solo business people with families. When I talk to self-employed people, few want to discuss health insurance. The topic seems to be taboo. Maybe some are going without insurance? Obamacare does not address the issues of a solo business owner. As far as friends who run solo businesses, those who would discuss the topic all said that they had their wives get random corporate jobs (e.g., at a retail bank location) to provide health insurance.

Germany calling in. ;-)

This is a big business stopper in Germany, too.

Health insurance is a must here and can easily add up to 500 Euro or sth. like that per month when you got a wife (not working full time) and children.

So getting ramen profitable is possibly much harder.

Not OP but self-employed going on a decade. Have high-deductible (intentionally) insurance covering myself and wife along with tax deferred Health Savings Accounts. In our mid-30s. Insurance runs $400/month and gets a tax deduction. Covered at 70% for just about any procedure/medicine. Not sure of what's typical. We have this done pre-Obamacare (grandfathered plan), but prior checks show within ballpark if not grandfathered (assuming HDP/HSA that is).

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