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Have you actually been in a position where you needed to rely on COBRA? To continue my family's health insurance cost $4000/month. Fifteen years ago. When I w

Have you actually been in a position where you needed to rely on COBRA? To continue my family's health insurance cost $4000/month. Fifteen years ago. When I was employed, my employer was paying more than half of that. It was part of my compensation that I took for granted. With no income, limited savings, a mortgage and a family, I no longer took it for granted. I was responsible for my poor financial decisions that made that transition even worse than it had to be. But I can damn well believe there are Twitter employees who have made all the right moves, yet still hesitate to leave their jobs right now.

WalterBright 3y ago
> Have you actually been in a position where you needed to rely on COBRA? Yes. I used it for 18 months, then bought an insurance policy. That lasted until Obamacare forced that insurer to leave the state, and now I am on Obamacare. > But I can damn well believe there are Twitter employees who have made all the right moves, yet still hesitate to leave their jobs right now. I can believe it, too. Long ago, the company I was working on encountered hard times, and did an across the board 10% pay cut. One of my coworkers was furiously grumbling about it, so I asked him why he didn't just quit (there are plenty of tech jobs around Seattle). He said his finances were so tight he couldn't afford to miss even one paycheck. He had a McMansion, his & hers new cars, expensive furniture, and expensive clothes. He was in a cage he forged for himself, the company didn't do it to him. Jobs in the private sector are not guaranteed. It's best to save a portion of each paycheck. I bought stock with my first job, and drove beaters for a long time (and still do). My last beater I drove for 30 years, until it finally expired.
photonerd 3y ago
Actually going through this right now. Unless you had a huge family you must have had a STELLAR health plan. I have a pretty good PPO & it cost $2400 for the 3 of us.
- watersb 3y ago
  Indeed, it was stellar... I worked for a large national telescope facility! Also, it was a good plan but more than we could carry indefinitely. My health collapsed and we were in the second year of trying to figure out why. So we needed to carry it for a while, but were able to switch to a different arrangement when long-term medical leave came into effect some months later.
  - photonerd 3y ago
    Gotcha. Nice to have, sorry you had to us it! Hope things are better now.

WalterBright 3y ago

> Have you actually been in a position where you needed to rely on COBRA? Yes. I used it for 18 months, then bought an insurance policy. That lasted until Obamacare forced that insurer to leave the state, and now I am on Obamacare. > But I can damn well believe there are Twitter employees who have made all the right moves, yet still hesitate to leave their jobs right now. I can believe it, too. Long ago, the company I was working on encountered hard times, and did an across the board 10% pay cut. One of my coworkers was furiously grumbling about it, so I asked him why he didn't just quit (there are plenty of tech jobs around Seattle). He said his finances were so tight he couldn't afford to miss even one paycheck. He had a McMansion, his & hers new cars, expensive furniture, and expensive clothes. He was in a cage he forged for himself, the company didn't do it to him. Jobs in the private sector are not guaranteed. It's best to save a portion of each paycheck. I bought stock with my first job, and drove beaters for a long time (and still do). My last beater I drove for 30 years, until it finally expired.

photonerd 3y ago

Actually going through this right now. Unless you had a huge family you must have had a STELLAR health plan. I have a pretty good PPO & it cost $2400 for the 3 of us.

watersb 3y ago
Indeed, it was stellar... I worked for a large national telescope facility! Also, it was a good plan but more than we could carry indefinitely. My health collapsed and we were in the second year of trying to figure out why. So we needed to carry it for a while, but were able to switch to a different arrangement when long-term medical leave came into effect some months later.
- photonerd 3y ago
  Gotcha. Nice to have, sorry you had to us it! Hope things are better now.