My plan is to be on my wife's plan

http://www.kyleshank.com/stories/2012/09/17/myPlanIsToBeOnMyWifesPlan.html

by MaysonL • 14 years ago

8 12 14 years ago

jvoorhis• 14 years ago

I'm not sure what point he's trying to get across, beyond a description of the current American healthcare situation wrt. founders.

My wife is an entrepreneur. I've thought about starting up at various points in recent years and health insurance is one issue that has given me pause. Right now, I'm happy to have a great job doing what I love that provides benefits for us both.

gavanwoolery3• 14 years ago

When I was on my own for health insurance, I went with Kaiser. It cost $120/month or so, which is definitely affordable (you may have to make a choice though - do you really need a cell phone with a data plan, or cable TV?). Many people bad-mouth Kaiser, even though it is an NPO, for their service, but I actually had good experiences with them (including a surgery). Our healthcare system actually is pretty great, if you do not believe me try getting a major surgery done in another country. We do need to work on reducing costs (particularly the cost of drugs and medical equipment), but there will always be a certain cost for healthcare until AI takes over (it already is doing accurate diagnoses, if you have trouble believing that). Many people make the mistake that healthcare is a "right" -- it is actually a commodity, like food, or trash service, or...you name it. I'm not against universal healthcare, but the money for it has to come from somewhere, and maybe our government is not the best solution for it given their track record of screwing up budgets.

GertG2• 14 years ago

"Our healthcare system actually is pretty great, if you do not believe me try getting a major surgery done in another country."

I'm amazed that on a website full of such thoughtful sensible people, an American would still have this world view of "there's America and there's the rest of the world, and ours is the best of possible countries".

To give a counter-example to your amazingly broad claim: in Belgium I can have surgery done, spend 4 days in hospital and have everything except 150 euros paid by our universal health-care.

Or were you implying that surgery elsewhere is of lesser quality? A lot of Americans don't seem to agree [1].

[1] 6 Million Americans Travel Abroad Each Year for Surgeries, Medical Treatments: http://news.health.com/2009/04/08/traveling-treatment/

gavanwoolery3• 14 years ago

It is not my intention to insult any other countries, or put the US in competition with them. I am simply stating things as I see them -- I do not think America is great, we are actually a pretty idiotic country (at least our government is) and we need to get our act together. So long as it is private (probably not for long), our healthcare system will be "the best" -- in terms of quality, but not necessarily cost. Its like comparing a private school to a public school, or a private bathroom to a public bathroom. You get what you pay for - which is good and bad for US citizens (good in that we get an option, bad in that its not free). When you distribute something of a limited quantity (in this case, healthcare) to everyone for free, you have to make sacrifices -- or raise taxes even higher. Many countries in Europe pay over 50 percent income tax at the maximum rates. In Canada, doctors only make 42 percent of what US doctors do, so they come here. 800,000 Canadians are on waiting lists for longer than 18 weeks to see a doctor annually. Britain cancels about 100k operations annually because it does not have enough doctors to meet the demand. Many Americans do travel abroad for surgery because it is cheaper (not necessarily better) - for example here in San Diego it is not uncommon for people to get Dentistry done in Mexico. All of these numbers I pulled from Wikipedia, which may or may not be a good source but you can probably (in)validate the numbers elsewhere.

pasbesoin• 14 years ago

My cousin's friend was insured with Kaiser. She was mis-diagnosed for over a year. When she attempted to get a referral for a second opinion, it was denied.

She subsequently died from cancer.

Anecdote cuts both ways.

EDIT: I'm thinking now that my wording above sounds overly harsh or confrontational.

Let me restate: We have systemic failure.

In one aspect, a large fraction of the population is shut out of the system, outright. One might argue that better health would foster better outcomes also in other domains, e.g. employment. But we do nothing to explore much less create this circumstance.

In another aspect, participants can be reduced to "the luck of the draw". Get a bad doctor -- worse, an autocratic, bad doctor -- and you can be effectively screwed. As happened to my cousin's friend.

This is not a "system". It is a medieval landscape of fiefdoms, varyingly ruled and also more concerned with their competition than with their populations.

lasertron• 14 years ago

So are you saying this is demeaning to yourself in some way?

urlwolf• 14 years ago

Well, here in Germany I pay 400 eur for health insurance. And if I quit, I'll pay even more if I ever want to go back to it.

In Spain, the public health system is free and works surprisingly well (believe it or not). If you want private coverage, I think the montly payments all hoover around 60 eur.

Why Germany is x10 as expensive, I'd like to know.

leed25d• 14 years ago

You missed a very important one. Veterans have VA health care which, despite some loud media screaming to the contrary, is actually very good.

I have been a professional programmer since 1974. In 2000 I had a job with no health benefits, and a situation arose such that I needed to see a doctor. So I went to the VA asking if I could be seen there and the response was that I should have been going to the VA all along.

Long story short, I have been going there ever since and it is far better than any corporate health plan that I have ever been enrolled in.

TL;DR if you are running a startup, hire veterans. They do not need your health care plan, you probably get some kind of tax credit, and many veterans have worked under more pressure than you will ever encounter.

My plan is to be on my wife's plan

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