Comment by hshshs2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hshshs2 | Hacker News Reader

There are a lot of people saying “my employer insurance is great!” which is nice... but aren’t you frustrated that it’s tied to employment?

I’ve contracted before and insurance is a nightmare. I stopped contracting and took a full time job because of it... even small startups often get terrible options because they’re not at the size to have any negotiating leverage.

Without a universal solution we’re kind of in a state of light indentured servitude. If it weren’t for healthcare costs I might not even work full-time... I’ve considered moving to canada just so I can be free from the burden.

I don’t think most Americans understand the mental weight of having to think about insurance at critical life junctures... even if you’re willing to disregard the millions of uninsured lives that fall by the wayside.

I have to think about premiums, copays, billing codes, in and out of network coverage, have awkward pricing conversations with doctors, call to fight denied claims... and sometimes I still get blindsided if for some reason lab work needs a second set of eyes (sometimes those eyes are in the same facility and out of network). Oh and for some reason my teeth aren’t covered as healthcare?

We’re boiled frogs with this stuff... people still think we have the best healthcare in the world but disregard the fact that it’s only available for the rich; we’re generally well out of the top 10 otherwise. I grew up in a rural area and I know multiple people who literally pulled out their own teeth because they didn’t have dental insurance. We need to start taking better care of each other.

It's amazing how brainwashed we have become. Employer tied healthcare is one of the worst things that happened to Americans in my opinion. It justifies the insurance middle men, gives employers more power for no reason and takes away choice from people. And no, just because you can buy insurance yourself, you cannot beat the "group" rates that companies get from insurance companies. I saw all this as a Small Business Owner/Employer who would rather give my employees more cash than dealing with shitty insurance companies and their monopolies.

Also, real cost would never go down until people realize that employers subsidizing outrageous premiums is never going to force the market to lower costs (mostly inflated due to insurance companies in the picture again for EVERYTHING).

Yeah we need to get rid of it. Once people need to pay for it themselves insurance companies can in no way stay charging $30K per year.

The current "system" is very hostile to small business. I don't think the average person realizes how bad it is.

I abandoned a financially successful independent contracting business of 15 years and went back to being an employee (ugh) because the Republican efforts to repeal the ACA freaked me out. I'm old enough that my wife and I both have some pre-existing non-chronic conditions, and I have a young daughter. Paying ~$20K of premiums annually for the privilege of having a $13K deductible was grudgingly acceptable to me. The uncertainty was not. The stress of wondering if insurance was going to be available year-to-year (in the final year I operated the business my County had exactly one marketplace plan available) was extreme.

I happened to get a job offer from a Customer. I decided that, though I swore I'd never be anybody's employee again, it was irresponsible in light of the efforts by the GOP to repeal the ACA to continue gambling that insurance would be available.

I had a taste of being uninsured in 2014 when, on pre-ACA grandfathered insurance, I had to pay out-of-pocket for treatment related to a pre-existing condition that wasn't covered. The idea of just how close we all are to a medically-induced bankruptcy really hit me at that point.

My quality of life is much worse now. I used to bill in 20 hours what I now have to report to the office "40 hours" to earn. I used to be able to spend more time with my family. I used to have the flexibility to make decisions about how and when I wanted to work, take time off, etc.

My Customers, some of whom I'd worked with for 10+ years, ended up stuck going with drastically more expensive (and less attentive and skilled) "managed services" companies to service their IT needs. The emails and calls that I get regularly asking for my help, along with the out-right statements to the fact, tell me that the situation for them isn't better either.

It's a racket.

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