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> I hope society figures out how to make startups in general less capital-dependent. My 2¢: stop forcing companies to provide health insurance.

alexilliamson 5y ago
Does health insurance drive up the need for capital that much? I've never considered that. Would love to hear more.
- anotha1 5y ago
  Anyone that's ever worked part-time knows the "we have to send you home because if you work anymore this week you might be considered full-time by Uncle Sam and that's bad." Another thought is throughput. If welfare wasn't so closely tied to employment, working relationships could then be more ephemeral until one found a best fit. This may also look like more cautious hiring, which directly leads to missed opportunities for all parties. Edit: Capital buys employees, but it also buys time. For every extra dollar an employee costs the amount of time it takes to make the decision to hire that employee also increases. An efficient job market would compensate based on contribution, which is a lot more possible if a significant amount wasn't mandated to be spent, and then guilted into continue spending because, you know, you don't want to take away someone's welfare.
  - nefitty 5y ago
    I stumbled on a really good job posting this weekend, which I’m 100% qualified for and am sure I would have a really good chance of getting, but the last sentence was “We currently don’t offer health insurance.” Based on that alone, I had to slunk away.
CameronNemo 5y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_Americans_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_Americans_Act A proposal to do exactly that. Critically, it phased out incentives available to corporations that provide employee healthcare in favor of tax deductions for individuals that purchase their own healthcare. During the transition period, employers would subsidize private plans purchased by their employees.
- anotha1 5y ago
  Too convoluted. The only answer is medicare for all. Stop wasting time.
  - nappy-doo 5y ago
    While I support medicare for all, there needs to be a transition. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people involved in insurance that need to find new work.
bmicraft 5y ago
That's basically the same as paying people less.
- anotha1 5y ago
  Only if you live somewhere where healthcare is a privilege.
vkou 5y ago
We can take this another step further, and stop forcing companies to pay employees.
- the_local_host 5y ago
  If there were an adequate social safety net, specifically a universal basic income, then employees could be paid in equity if the employer wanted to conserve or did not possess cash.

alexilliamson 5y ago

Does health insurance drive up the need for capital that much? I've never considered that. Would love to hear more.

anotha1 5y ago
Anyone that's ever worked part-time knows the "we have to send you home because if you work anymore this week you might be considered full-time by Uncle Sam and that's bad." Another thought is throughput. If welfare wasn't so closely tied to employment, working relationships could then be more ephemeral until one found a best fit. This may also look like more cautious hiring, which directly leads to missed opportunities for all parties. Edit: Capital buys employees, but it also buys time. For every extra dollar an employee costs the amount of time it takes to make the decision to hire that employee also increases. An efficient job market would compensate based on contribution, which is a lot more possible if a significant amount wasn't mandated to be spent, and then guilted into continue spending because, you know, you don't want to take away someone's welfare.
- nefitty 5y ago
  I stumbled on a really good job posting this weekend, which I’m 100% qualified for and am sure I would have a really good chance of getting, but the last sentence was “We currently don’t offer health insurance.” Based on that alone, I had to slunk away.

CameronNemo 5y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_Americans_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_Americans_Act A proposal to do exactly that. Critically, it phased out incentives available to corporations that provide employee healthcare in favor of tax deductions for individuals that purchase their own healthcare. During the transition period, employers would subsidize private plans purchased by their employees.

anotha1 5y ago
Too convoluted. The only answer is medicare for all. Stop wasting time.
- nappy-doo 5y ago
  While I support medicare for all, there needs to be a transition. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people involved in insurance that need to find new work.

bmicraft 5y ago

That's basically the same as paying people less.

anotha1 5y ago
Only if you live somewhere where healthcare is a privilege.

vkou 5y ago

We can take this another step further, and stop forcing companies to pay employees.

the_local_host 5y ago
If there were an adequate social safety net, specifically a universal basic income, then employees could be paid in equity if the employer wanted to conserve or did not possess cash.