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"small fraction" is optimistic imho. Health insurance costs me more than my home mortgage payment (and it's crappy insurance that pays almost nothing). In my ex

"small fraction" is optimistic imho. Health insurance costs me more than my home mortgage payment (and it's crappy insurance that pays almost nothing). In my experience it isn't possible to reproduce the "BigCo health insurance" experience yourself, regardless of expense, unless you allow buying your own hospital.

vkou 4y ago
Your home must either be a cardboard box, in the middle of nowhere, or you bought it two decades ago. Its value is not what it pays for, it's value is capping out-of-pocket maximums in the worst-case. (Any serious medical situation will quickly run you up to them.) Also, have you ever looked at the 'Employer pays' line item on the insurance section of a bigco paystub? Mine is more than my rent. (Maybe I should move to a bigger apartment.) I understand that there's a huge sticker shock to having to pay your + an employer's portion of insurance, but it's still a function of money, and working for a bigco that does 7% layoffs every 8 years is a really good way to earn a lot of money. And it's not like there are any 'play it safe' places in a recession. You can't predict the future, and small companies go belly-up, and do layoffs just as much as big ones.
- ROTMetro 4y ago
  Why are you making assumptions about OPs numbers? Instead let's talk the numbers you are trying to minimize. Cobra averages $600 per person per month. That is $2400 per month for a family of four. I agree when I was self employed my largest cost was always health insurance, but for someone who has never been self employed a new $2400 a month bill on top of being fired can be quite a shock and add a ton of addition stress and pressure.
  - vkou 4y ago
    The average mortgage in my town is north of $5000/mo. That $2400/mo is the true cost of insurance. Your bigco employer pays most of it, and you pay the rest. So, yes, when that part of your pay is lost, it sucks. It sucks a lot. But that's not what we're discussing. We're discussing the financial situation you're in when you get paid bigco wages, and have to deal with 8% layoffs every 8 years, or working somewhere else, where you get paid substantially less (And also probably have to deal with layoffs, it's just that they don't hit the front page of HN). It's a financial no-brainer to me. If the wage delta is more than a rounding error, I'm much better off, financially in just taking the money.

vkou 4y ago

Your home must either be a cardboard box, in the middle of nowhere, or you bought it two decades ago. Its value is not what it pays for, it's value is capping out-of-pocket maximums in the worst-case. (Any serious medical situation will quickly run you up to them.) Also, have you ever looked at the 'Employer pays' line item on the insurance section of a bigco paystub? Mine is more than my rent. (Maybe I should move to a bigger apartment.) I understand that there's a huge sticker shock to having to pay your + an employer's portion of insurance, but it's still a function of money, and working for a bigco that does 7% layoffs every 8 years is a really good way to earn a lot of money. And it's not like there are any 'play it safe' places in a recession. You can't predict the future, and small companies go belly-up, and do layoffs just as much as big ones.

ROTMetro 4y ago
Why are you making assumptions about OPs numbers? Instead let's talk the numbers you are trying to minimize. Cobra averages $600 per person per month. That is $2400 per month for a family of four. I agree when I was self employed my largest cost was always health insurance, but for someone who has never been self employed a new $2400 a month bill on top of being fired can be quite a shock and add a ton of addition stress and pressure.
- vkou 4y ago
  The average mortgage in my town is north of $5000/mo. That $2400/mo is the true cost of insurance. Your bigco employer pays most of it, and you pay the rest. So, yes, when that part of your pay is lost, it sucks. It sucks a lot. But that's not what we're discussing. We're discussing the financial situation you're in when you get paid bigco wages, and have to deal with 8% layoffs every 8 years, or working somewhere else, where you get paid substantially less (And also probably have to deal with layoffs, it's just that they don't hit the front page of HN). It's a financial no-brainer to me. If the wage delta is more than a rounding error, I'm much better off, financially in just taking the money.