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Comment by ram_rar | Hacker News Reader

Honestly, if it wasnt for health insurance benefits that comes with full time jobs. I would gladly work as a freelancer and build software that actually has a real world impact.

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Hasn't Obamacare addressed that? Or are you worried that the exchanges may go away?

Speaking from experience, premiums go up every year, coverage decreases/copayments increase, and plans often get discontinued. I've had to switch to a different plan three times now.

Obamacare has greatly increased the cost of healthcare for most people (people without pre-existing conditions). It's become much harder to contract since its inception because more and more of your income gets diverted to insurance. Thankfully you can count what you pay toward insurance as an expense against your income but it's still such a major cost that not having employer supplied health insurance is a major burden to most freelancers.

It's pretty much a total disaster, so no.

You can charge more and pay for your own insurance.

Have a look at how much getting your own insurance costs, you will be surprised.

Actually, health insurance is not that expensive. A couple of years ago my wife was out of a job and checked what it would take to have health insurance on our own. Turns out a top-level plan for a family of 4 cost less than 200 USD a month. Given that as a contractor we typically make a lot more than with a full time job (between 1.5 and 2 times), health insurance is not a good reason for remaining full time.

You must be a younger person with a young wife and with no health issues. My wife and I are 60ish with one adult child. I have been freelancing for 15 years and health insurance is our major expense. Over that time it reached a peak of $2150 per month. Obamacare and stepping down a plan level has reduced that to about $1500 per month.

Even in the poorest place in America, I would need to see documentation proving a gold level health insurance plan costs less than $200 per month.

A silver plan for a healthy mid 20s male is $400/month in NYC. That's just for a healthy young male, the least expensive demographic to insure. AND that's for a high deductible HSA eligible plan, so out of pocket max per year is $7k for single and $13k for family.

Maybe OP meant $2000 a month?

Even in tech, I wouldn't think that qualifies as "not that expensive" for most people.

My high deductible insurance (me+spouse+1 kid) is $1400 per month. I'm not sure where I can get a $200 one - I'm not eligible for any subsidies.

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