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Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

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Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#91

Post by stevesearer »

nodesocket wrote: post #21
stevesearer wrote: post #19

If you don't qualify for any subsidy, you should definitely just purchase health insurance directly through the carrier. I initially purchased insurance via CoveredCA (no subsidy) and they just acted as a middleman between my family and Blue Shield without providing any benefit.

Thanks that's great advice. It seems there is absolutely zero discounts using CoveredCA when you earn more than $50,000 a year.

I believe you can't pay for employees' individual plans using company money because they might qualify for subsidies. Having taxpayers subsidize your company benefits is a no-no, so you'd need a group plan once you offer health insurance for employees.

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#92

Post by Inhibit »

nodesocket wrote: post #38
7alman wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You said that you need to be making < $50,000 to be considered for a discount from coveredCa. If you're using your company to pay for your expenses, and you draw less than 50G in personal income. You should be eligible for a discount.

I have a 100% ownership LLC, so my personal income is combined with business income.

I think what the previous poster is getting at is that in the US it may benefit you to have a more byzantine vehicle for your work. Such as an SCorp.

It'll take a bit more research and possibly some extra filing but you may benefit from it. In exchange for moving your income to a more employee like arrangement you'll be able to move things like this directly above the fold in some cases.

Or LLC filing as SCorp for federal tax purposes. Although that's the sort of thing you'll want to look at the 1040 rules for.

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#93

Post by changeseeker »

caseysoftware wrote: post #48

Ha, that's a deal. Prior to joining my current company, I was paying almost $2k/month.. and that was up from $1k/month just 4 years before. :( I'd recommend checking out your local professional associations. IEEE and ACM have some options: https://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/discount... https://www.acm.org/membership/insurance-programs

Any one has experience with using either of these two? Can you please chime in with the advantages of going through this vs going for individual plan?

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#94

Post by sheraz »

nodesocket wrote: post #24
ereyes01 wrote: post #23

Get a spouse who works and is gracious enough to pay for your health insurance via his/her company plan :-) That's how I do it, but this probably puts me in the "lucky" category...

Seeking spouse with good health insurance plan...

I actually know a guy that was amicably divorced for 10+ years but remained married on paper just so he could keep his healthcare benefits.

They have children so there was mutual interest in making sure all family members were cared for.

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#95

Post by sharemywin »

gaelenh wrote: post #85
cylinder wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I can't be self employed. The situation is out of control. That's the rate for the small local carriers too with poor provider networks. The major carriers such as United go for $2,000/mo. Don't forget the 30% coinsurance after you get past that deductible!

I don't understand the subsidies at all. In 2015, ACA gave people waivers (no penalty!) if the minimum insurance was more than 8.05% of household income. The minimum plan for a family in NYC on the NY Healthcare Exchange is $12,500/year. Self-employed families making less than $147,000 and more than $60,000 (I think that's where subsidies cut off) are overlooked and left without a safety net.

It's like that everywhere. family plan at my work or through exchange is like 17.5k before they pay out dime one.

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#96

Post by brianwawok »

vyrotek wrote: post #77
samaritan1 wrote: post #71

We use a direct medical expense sharing non-profit. Ours is called Samaritan but there are a few of them. Basically, every month we write a check for about $460 to another member, and the one time we had a hospital stay, we got a bunch of checks to cover the full amount. (It covers everything but $300, but if you negotiate the price down at all, the full amount is covered.) That's a family plan price and we were look…

This is definitely a starting to become a popular option. I had just commented over in another thread about it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13356900 It's pretty affordable and the nicest part is most of these health shares are ACA exempt so you don't get hit by the fine of not having "normal" insurance. Do you use a Direct Primary Health provider to cover normal doctor visits and things? I'm a fan.

Are there ones not run by religion? The health sharing plans I have seen require such things as belonging to a certain church and not drinking any alcohol.

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#97

Post by WillPostForFood »

nradov wrote: post #64
WillPostForFood wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about on the basis that comparable plans cost about 1/3rd that before the ACA?

Only for those without pre-existing conditions or other major risk factors. For them, comparable plans cost about 3 times as much, or weren't available at all. Also the plan that you claim was comparable before the ACA was probably not comparable at all because it had a lifetime coverage cap. So it was objectively worse because if you got a serious and expensive medical condition you would have been cut off at some p…

It was actually objectively better because the deductible was about 1/5th, so We'd actually hit and get some value back.

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#98

Post by wapz »

FireBeyond wrote: post #89
jbarham wrote: post #36

Do what I did six years ago: Marry an Australian and leave the US. I now pay AU $350/month for private medical insurance for my family of five, in addition to being able to access Australia's world-class public Medicare medical system. It's only when you live outside of the US that you realize it has the worst healthcare system in the developed world (unless you're very rich, in which case it's the best, which says a…

"It's only when you live outside of the US that you realize it has the worst healthcare system in the developed world (unless you're very rich, in which case it's the best, which says a lot about the US political system)." As an Australian who moved to the US, this * 1000. Yes, no healthcare is free. But a 1-1.5% increase in income taxes to pay for healthcare is a whole world away from the US situation: - hospital st…

Yeah it's ridiculous. I was in the ER in California for 2.5 hours (I got IV and a CT scan). The bill was $4600. I stayed overnight in Japan entering the ER and got IV only and it was $41.

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#99

Post by nradov »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #97
nradov wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only for those without pre-existing conditions or other major risk factors. For them, comparable plans cost about 3 times as much, or weren't available at all. Also the plan that you claim was comparable before the ACA was probably not comparable at all because it had a lifetime coverage cap. So it was objectively worse because if you got a serious and expensive medical condition you would have been cut off at some p…

It was actually objectively better because the deductible was about 1/5th, so We'd actually hit and get some value back.

I don't think you understand how insurance works. What do you think would have happened to you if you got a serious chronic medical condition and exceeded your lifetime coverage limit on the old (pre ACA) policy?

Re: Ask HN: Bootstrapped US founders, who do you use for health insurance?

#100

Post by WillPostForFood »

nradov wrote: post #99
WillPostForFood wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was actually objectively better because the deductible was about 1/5th, so We'd actually hit and get some value back.

I don't think you understand how insurance works. What do you think would have happened to you if you got a serious chronic medical condition and exceeded your lifetime coverage limit on the old (pre ACA) policy?

I would happily trade a lifetime coverage limit for a reasonable deductible so I can afford healthcare today for myself and my family. Your arrogance is astounding - ACA is a disaster for the vast majority of self insured people, and there were cheaper easier solutions for the small number of people who have chronic issues and lifetime coverage caps.
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