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The subtle but crazy part about this is at the bottom when it details the author: "Donna Dubinsky, a co-founder of Palm Computer and Handspring, is the chief ex

The subtle but crazy part about this is at the bottom when it details the author: "Donna Dubinsky, a co-founder of Palm Computer and Handspring, is the chief executive of a computer software company." I'm going to go out on a limb and say money is not an issue for Donna, yet she still can't even buy insurance if she wants to. I've always thought healthcare access was a bigger hurdle for entrepreneurs than tax rates. If I make a lot of money with my startup, great, I really could care less if I pay 15% or 40% of that to the gov't, because it will be a whole lot more than I make now. But not having health care insurance (or worse, having crappy insurance that denies you all the time like most individual plans do) is so damn risky it makes me afraid to step out on my own.

ajays 16y ago
+1 If the Republicans are serious about an economic recovery and want startups to flourish, then universal healthcare is a cornerstone of such an effort. I know of other people too who are afraid of leaving their (big-company) positions because they have a wife + young kids, and lack of health insurance terrifies them.
- Vivtek 16y ago
  What could possibly have given you the idea that the Republicans want an economic recovery?
  - angelbob 16y ago
    Well, eventually. Just not under Obama. Maybe if they wait a few years?
JabavuAdams 16y ago
Well, once her current software company (Numenta) deploys AI maybe she won't need coverage. /joking
sammcd 16y ago
I think she could buy insurance if she really wanted. I've thought about this a lot because I could easily be in this situation. If I did anything on my own I would need a group plan quickly. You only need 2 people to create a group. So you can buy insurance its expensive, here is how you do it. 1) Start a company. 2) Hire another employee (this costs a lot) 3) Make a group health insurance policy for the company. There you bought insurance. I know this is stupid, but I'm just the kind of person that when someone says "You can't do XXX" I automatically have to see if I can do it.
- krschultz 16y ago
  It's not the difference between a family and a company, its the size of the group. Thus the costs for a company with 10,000 people is far different than a company with 10. Also, if you have a group of 2,5,10 or 20, the insurance company has an easier time denying you because if you get pissed and drop them, its not a big loss for them. In contrast, if you deny the right person at a 10,000 person company, they lose a big account.
  - rapind 16y ago
    As a group you have more leverage purchasing pretty much any service. I wonder what it would take to put together a group buy app for health insurance.
    - kooshball 16y ago
      > As a group you have more leverage purchasing pretty much any service although this is true, the leverage gained through group is different for other services, where a bulk order is much cheaper. Assuming everyone's making rational decisions, the only people that would want insurance would be the high risk ones. Insurance companies would loss money regardless of the rates they charge because the only rational people that would pay it would be the ones that think they would likely benefit from it, since they have additional information (eating habit, risk level, etc ) over the insurance company. By putting a lot of people (high risk and low risk) in a group, the insurance company can balance out the group and make a small gain on top of the expected payout.
kgrin 16y ago
I've said it before and I'll say it again - the MA health care law ("RomneyCare", which is functionally very similar to "ObamaCare") is really what let me start a startup - the money wasn't the issue, but the ability to get an individual policy at a reasonable (not at all subsidized, just group-negotiated) rate was.
- krschultz 16y ago
  Good point, Boston is very high on my list of places to move for the startup scene (I currently live in eastern CT, previously worked in NYC, so I'm closer to Boston than SF.)
- keeptrying 16y ago
  Do you have to have lived in MA for a while to be able to get this or do you just need to live there when you apply for medical insurance?
  - kgrin 16y ago
    You can do it right away - and in fact, basically have to, since the other part of the puzzle is that you MUST be insured. Ultimately it's not really that clever - the state just acts as a giant group purchaser, and the fact that it's compulsory spreads the risk around so that it's not an adverse selection problem. It seems silly to shill for it, but all the details are (more or less) explained on the site: http://www.mahealthconnector.org http://www.mahealthconnector.org Note that the reason you can apply for it right away, unlike other state "benefits", is that it's not really a benefit - there's no subsidy (at least, not for self- or startup-employed folks like me who very well can afford it), so there's no real cost to the state of letting 1, 2, or 17000 more people buy in (and in fact there's an advantage, because you increase the risk pool).
    - Vivtek 16y ago
      Now if I could only buy into it without moving to MA...
    - keeptrying 16y ago
d_r 16y ago
I was also confused about that. I may be misunderstanding how the law works, but isn't it true that group coverage can deny pre-existing conditions only for a limited time (6 months)? In California you need at least 2 employees to qualify for group coverage. So you start an actual company, perform business (presumably turning in some money to cover your costs), and also get coverage for your dependents. There's one caveat that the coverage does not start until your company has been around for 6 months (unrelated to the pre-existing 6 months figure above.) Or was the author's post related to (presumably) retiring earlier and specifically not wanting to start a company again?

ajays 16y ago

+1 If the Republicans are serious about an economic recovery and want startups to flourish, then universal healthcare is a cornerstone of such an effort. I know of other people too who are afraid of leaving their (big-company) positions because they have a wife + young kids, and lack of health insurance terrifies them.

Vivtek 16y ago
What could possibly have given you the idea that the Republicans want an economic recovery?
- angelbob 16y ago
  Well, eventually. Just not under Obama. Maybe if they wait a few years?

JabavuAdams 16y ago

Well, once her current software company (Numenta) deploys AI maybe she won't need coverage. /joking

sammcd 16y ago

I think she could buy insurance if she really wanted. I've thought about this a lot because I could easily be in this situation. If I did anything on my own I would need a group plan quickly. You only need 2 people to create a group. So you can buy insurance its expensive, here is how you do it. 1) Start a company. 2) Hire another employee (this costs a lot) 3) Make a group health insurance policy for the company. There you bought insurance. I know this is stupid, but I'm just the kind of person that when someone says "You can't do XXX" I automatically have to see if I can do it.

krschultz 16y ago
It's not the difference between a family and a company, its the size of the group. Thus the costs for a company with 10,000 people is far different than a company with 10. Also, if you have a group of 2,5,10 or 20, the insurance company has an easier time denying you because if you get pissed and drop them, its not a big loss for them. In contrast, if you deny the right person at a 10,000 person company, they lose a big account.
- rapind 16y ago
  As a group you have more leverage purchasing pretty much any service. I wonder what it would take to put together a group buy app for health insurance.
  - kooshball 16y ago
    > As a group you have more leverage purchasing pretty much any service although this is true, the leverage gained through group is different for other services, where a bulk order is much cheaper. Assuming everyone's making rational decisions, the only people that would want insurance would be the high risk ones. Insurance companies would loss money regardless of the rates they charge because the only rational people that would pay it would be the ones that think they would likely benefit from it, since they have additional information (eating habit, risk level, etc ) over the insurance company. By putting a lot of people (high risk and low risk) in a group, the insurance company can balance out the group and make a small gain on top of the expected payout.

kgrin 16y ago

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the MA health care law ("RomneyCare", which is functionally very similar to "ObamaCare") is really what let me start a startup - the money wasn't the issue, but the ability to get an individual policy at a reasonable (not at all subsidized, just group-negotiated) rate was.

krschultz 16y ago
Good point, Boston is very high on my list of places to move for the startup scene (I currently live in eastern CT, previously worked in NYC, so I'm closer to Boston than SF.)
keeptrying 16y ago
Do you have to have lived in MA for a while to be able to get this or do you just need to live there when you apply for medical insurance?
- kgrin 16y ago
  You can do it right away - and in fact, basically have to, since the other part of the puzzle is that you MUST be insured. Ultimately it's not really that clever - the state just acts as a giant group purchaser, and the fact that it's compulsory spreads the risk around so that it's not an adverse selection problem. It seems silly to shill for it, but all the details are (more or less) explained on the site: http://www.mahealthconnector.org http://www.mahealthconnector.org Note that the reason you can apply for it right away, unlike other state "benefits", is that it's not really a benefit - there's no subsidy (at least, not for self- or startup-employed folks like me who very well can afford it), so there's no real cost to the state of letting 1, 2, or 17000 more people buy in (and in fact there's an advantage, because you increase the risk pool).
  - Vivtek 16y ago
    Now if I could only buy into it without moving to MA...
  - keeptrying 16y ago

d_r 16y ago

I was also confused about that. I may be misunderstanding how the law works, but isn't it true that group coverage can deny pre-existing conditions only for a limited time (6 months)? In California you need at least 2 employees to qualify for group coverage. So you start an actual company, perform business (presumably turning in some money to cover your costs), and also get coverage for your dependents. There's one caveat that the coverage does not start until your company has been around for 6 months (unrelated to the pre-existing 6 months figure above.) Or was the author's post related to (presumably) retiring earlier and specifically not wanting to start a company again?