Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 41 posts

Re: Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

#21

Post by cullenking »

RudySF wrote: post #6

We're a small team of three (25, 28, 28) and the company pays for each person's individual plan with Anthem Blue Cross rather than a group plan which was more expensive for essentially the same coverage. It's about $200 per person per month.

My understanding was this is not possible from a tax perspective? I thought you had to buy a group plan if you wanted the business to cover, except for HSA contributions. Relevant links would be appreciated, since this is the route I wanted to go down for my business partner and I (young, healthy no need for the safer group plan).

Re: Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

#22

Post by jpdoctor »

elangoc wrote: post #5

This is an important question, it's the kind of thing that needs to be on an FAQ somewhere. Here is the info that I've collected in the last couple of months (US-centric, sorry): relevant YC posts/articles: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2247560 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2851224 links from the comments, or elsewhere: https://be.freelancersunion.org/benefits/ (you probably want to look this up, since th…

Addition for the tax deduction FAQ:

For S-corp >2% shareholders have some pretty specific instructions. A health-care reimbursement gets reported on the W-2, but is not taxed.

See the last section on: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=200293,00.html

Re: Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

#23

Post by itmag »

mixmax wrote: post #15

The Danish state. Glad to see that I get something for my high taxrate.

I tend to think that socialized medicine is a great cost hedge for the individual citizen (ie even in Scandinavia we do pay for health care, so it's not 100% free like some people believe, but the cost is predictable and it can't ever get sky-high like in the US).

I think one downside to it is that it's hard to do anything out of the ordinary (ie some new drug or method or whatever) because health care is seen as a standardized gov't service. For customization, you still need privatized medicine.

Or am I wrong on this? I don't have a lot of insight into the health care system, honestly.

Re: Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

#26

Post by _delirium »

itmag wrote: post #23
mixmax wrote: post #15

The Danish state. Glad to see that I get something for my high taxrate.

I tend to think that socialized medicine is a great cost hedge for the individual citizen (ie even in Scandinavia we do pay for health care, so it's not 100% free like some people believe, but the cost is predictable and it can't ever get sky-high like in the US). I think one downside to it is that it's hard to do anything out of the ordinary (ie some new drug or method or whatever) because health care is seen as a s…

One possibility is France's mixed approach, where everyone is automatically enrolled in the standardized government service, but those who prefer can instead pay for a private-sector doctor to provide service customized however they wish (within legal limits for things like drug approval).

Re: Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

#27

Post by _delirium »

dylanhassinger wrote: post #25

Sounds to me like this is an area ripe for disruption. Next YC semester should include a startup that sells health insurance to its peers...

Unless you have some way to get around the adverse-selection issue, I don't see how opt-in insurance for small companies is a problem a startup can solve.

Re: Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

#28

Post by dashr »

We are in California. Over the years of our business we have gone from Blue Cross/Anthem to now being with Kaiser- at one point we had a carve out plan where we had both. However, it always makes sense to go through a Broker who knows all the ins and outs each Insurer and its plan. The broker commission is paid by the Insurer not you directly. I believe the broker receives more when you add more employees to the plan - so they are invested in your growth. For our Company, the Company pays the first $200 of the plans monthly premium, the rest comes out of the employee paycheck, pre-tax. For employees 20-29, the premium plans range from $150-400. For 30-39 and Employee+Spouse or Family they go up to $300-1000. The employee can pick any plan that is offered (HSA, HMO, PPO, hybrids).

Re: Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

#29

Post by dashr »

elangoc wrote: post #5

This is an important question, it's the kind of thing that needs to be on an FAQ somewhere. Here is the info that I've collected in the last couple of months (US-centric, sorry): relevant YC posts/articles: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2247560 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2851224 links from the comments, or elsewhere: https://be.freelancersunion.org/benefits/ (you probably want to look this up, since th…

In CA, pre-Obama, an Insurer cannot deny an employee based on a pre-existing condition. I believe, The Health Care Act made that standard across the U.S. Some people with pre-existing conditions in CA used to form husband-wife companies to employ themselves and get Insurance.

Re: Ask HN: small startups, what do you use for health insurance?

#30

Post by dashr »

dashr wrote: post #28

We are in California. Over the years of our business we have gone from Blue Cross/Anthem to now being with Kaiser- at one point we had a carve out plan where we had both. However, it always makes sense to go through a Broker who knows all the ins and outs each Insurer and its plan. The broker commission is paid by the Insurer not you directly. I believe the broker receives more when you add more employees to the plan…

The monthly contribution amount is determined by company policy. It can be a $ amount or %. It just needs to be stated in policy and applied consistently to all employees.
Post reply on HN