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Comment by flexie | Hacker News Reader

Not sure why anyone would downvote this. It's a valid concern for anyone coming from Europe or other places with universal healthcare and whereas most tech companies in the US offers healthcare, many small ones don't and if you start your own company it's a big issue.

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Health insurance in the US is around 70 to 100 dollars a month depending on your company and plan.

If it's a big company, and if it's just you...

It never gets to be a few thousand even if you have a family of 6.

You're still assuming a big company. Imagine you work for a startup and have to purchase insurance on an exchange.

I'm really not assuming big company, I'm assuming teacher.

You've been saying company, and the GP set the context of company, but okay, fine. Big organization: company, not-for-profit, union, government, etc.

Are you really going to nitpick my words? I'm sorry that me saying 'depending on your company and plan' didn't include every possible profession in the US. Your argument is still shit and untrue. If healthcare cost more than a few hundred dollars to thousands 90% of americans wouldn't be able to afford it, which last time I checked wasn't the case.

It's made affordable for most people because it's heavily subsidized by the primary's employer or the government. Without a subsidy it can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand per month.

>> If healthcare cost more than a few hundred dollars to thousands 90% of americans wouldn't be able to afford it, which last time I checked wasn't the case.

A lot of Americans can't afford insurance, which is why many choose to pay the tax penalty and go without insurance.

Edit: removed snarky comment. In a bad mood today, have to stop posting.

Teachers tend to work for rather large companies. We just call them public schools.

You are incorrect. The tech companiew here, even the small ones have best in class insurance coverage. Most companies cost anywhere from 1000 to 4000 per year for only the primary employee, many others add much more on for dependants.

$1000/year is less than $90 per month. I don't think there's a legally compliant plan for less than many times that before subsidies.

Yeap, exactly. He doesnt understand that insurance is subsidized and that different companies pay different subsidies. It is not unusual for people at even big companies to be responsible for half their insurance costs i.e. 4k a month of typically around 8k unsubsidized.

I just quit my job and moved to COBRA (which continues my current insurance for 18mo). My out of pocket is 21k per year for spouse, baby and me.

If you are starting a company be ready to pay at least 7k for insurance for yourself.

Working for a major tech company, just my wife and I on my plan and us being young with no health issues, I paid $500/mo last year. I switched to an HSA this year as I don't think we got our money's worth from the old plan, but you can certainly rack up quite a big insurance bill. The only time I've ever had it be under $100/mo is before I got married.

We pay $805/month as a family of three. My company pays an additional $1376/month on our behalf.

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