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That really sucks. It is a reality I see some of my clients facing too. I've wondered what would happen if you offered to work as a self-employed 1099 employee

That really sucks. It is a reality I see some of my clients facing too. I've wondered what would happen if you offered to work as a self-employed 1099 employee, or if you opened your own LLC. Does that employer offer health insurance? That's pretty much the only reason why someone would demand being a W2 employee in my mind. And there's lots of ways to get health insurance in this country.

Klathmon 8y ago
I had other offers, so it wasn't a big deal in the end. But I've worked as a 1099 contractor before, and I'm not doing that again. You say there's lots of ways to get health insurance in this country, but in my experience that's not the case. Not only is it vastly more expensive, but (not to get too political) I can't really rely on my ability to buy insurance as a single person at a reasonable rate to stay around.
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  Ironically I work as an insurance broker, but I assure you I am acutely aware of how absurd some of the premiums and markets can be. I've become pretty cynical as of late. So like, sure, if you are working for Google or some other tech company that subsidizes 90-100% of an employee's health care costs, then you are getting a great deal, especially if you have a family. If you want a really large network with lots of doctors and you want a very very low deductible, then for a single person this is going to be $1100 for a single person, $2200 for a couple, $3100 for a family PER MONTH!!!!. Now, that's for ridiculously good coverage of course. If you want the cheapest coverage possible, then it's about $500 per month for a single person, $1000 couple, $1500 family etc. But here we are talking about $6,000 deductibles and so on. But, if you have literally no income, then you can get something like FidelisCare in NY for $20 a month, or Medicaid. There might be trouble with finding a doctor who accepts it. But that's the reality we face in this country. Unless you are 65, then you can get Medicare + Medigap for pretty damn cheap. So, I am someone who is neither eligible for medicare, nor a large employer subsidy. So I only have catastrophic insurance- and that's from a full-time job! If I married my girlfriend, I would have better coverage from her employer. And when I was eligible for coverage from my parents, that one was pretty good. The easiest thing is to just not get sick. But if you own your own LLC and you are charging very high hourly rates, your client (the one who would have employed you as a W2) is probably happy to not have you on their payroll, because the rates I quoted you above are the rates they would pay to offer you insurance.
barake 8y ago
The first few years the health insurance exchanges were open, getting insurance on your own was a breeze. I purchased insurance for my family for a few years that way, paying perfectly reasonable premiums for the benefits offered. In my state, Kentucky, there is now only one insurer per county offering plans and they're HMO garbage accepted almost nowhere. Additionally, large insurers like Humana (that are based here!) aren't really offering private insurance plans. Kentucky is just about W2 or bust for health coverage :(

Klathmon 8y ago

I had other offers, so it wasn't a big deal in the end. But I've worked as a 1099 contractor before, and I'm not doing that again. You say there's lots of ways to get health insurance in this country, but in my experience that's not the case. Not only is it vastly more expensive, but (not to get too political) I can't really rely on my ability to buy insurance as a single person at a reasonable rate to stay around.

anoncoward111 8y ago
Ironically I work as an insurance broker, but I assure you I am acutely aware of how absurd some of the premiums and markets can be. I've become pretty cynical as of late. So like, sure, if you are working for Google or some other tech company that subsidizes 90-100% of an employee's health care costs, then you are getting a great deal, especially if you have a family. If you want a really large network with lots of doctors and you want a very very low deductible, then for a single person this is going to be $1100 for a single person, $2200 for a couple, $3100 for a family PER MONTH!!!!. Now, that's for ridiculously good coverage of course. If you want the cheapest coverage possible, then it's about $500 per month for a single person, $1000 couple, $1500 family etc. But here we are talking about $6,000 deductibles and so on. But, if you have literally no income, then you can get something like FidelisCare in NY for $20 a month, or Medicaid. There might be trouble with finding a doctor who accepts it. But that's the reality we face in this country. Unless you are 65, then you can get Medicare + Medigap for pretty damn cheap. So, I am someone who is neither eligible for medicare, nor a large employer subsidy. So I only have catastrophic insurance- and that's from a full-time job! If I married my girlfriend, I would have better coverage from her employer. And when I was eligible for coverage from my parents, that one was pretty good. The easiest thing is to just not get sick. But if you own your own LLC and you are charging very high hourly rates, your client (the one who would have employed you as a W2) is probably happy to not have you on their payroll, because the rates I quoted you above are the rates they would pay to offer you insurance.

barake 8y ago

The first few years the health insurance exchanges were open, getting insurance on your own was a breeze. I purchased insurance for my family for a few years that way, paying perfectly reasonable premiums for the benefits offered. In my state, Kentucky, there is now only one insurer per county offering plans and they're HMO garbage accepted almost nowhere. Additionally, large insurers like Humana (that are based here!) aren't really offering private insurance plans. Kentucky is just about W2 or bust for health coverage :(