7 ms·

Find your health plan on Health Sherpa

64 points by songzme 13y ago

maaku 13y ago
Just FYI since most people don't know this: "Sherpa" is not a obscure word for "porter" in Tibetan or Nepali as many people seem to think. It's the name of a very small group of once Nomadic people (an large extended family, almost) living on the Nepal/Tibet border. When you hear a climber say "I hired two Sherpas to help me port supplies up the North Col" it's almost akin to saying "I hired two chinamen to help me lug these boxes around." How well do you think that would go off in civilized society? It only almost-kinda-sortof makes sense in the highest regions of the Himalayas as Sherpas apparently have genetic adaptations that make them superhuman climbers at that altitude so you might want to clarify "The climbers I hired were Sherpa, specifically." I'm not really sure at all why you chose "Health Sherpa" as a name (what's the connection?). Just FYI, you're productizing the name of a people.
- milesskorpen 13y ago
  "Chinaman" has a more negative connotation. I think "Sherpa" is more comparable to saying "I hired two Aussies to help me lug these boxes around."
  - DrewRWx 13y ago
    It's closer to "I hired two Koori to help me lug these boxes around."
- fencepost 13y ago
  Hm, the connotation I have for "Sherpa" is as much "guide" as it is "porter." Of course, I'm not a mountain climber nor do I follow it, so perhaps there's a difference in usage between that community and non-climbers.
- refurb 13y ago
  Has the word "sherpa" ever been used in a negative context?
  - rurounijones 13y ago
    Everyone I know looks upon the sherpas with a sense of awe and respect.
    - refurb 13y ago
      My thought exactly, but maybe it has a negative conotation in some cultures? It was an honest question.
    - gadders 13y ago
      I'd agree with that. I've racked my brain to see if I can ever remember a negative context, and I can't. See also Gurkha.
    - JulianMorrison 13y ago
      Racially grouped awe is a sort of racism ("black people are such good dancers!" <- racist).
      - rurounijones 13y ago
        Depends on your definition of "Sherpa". I am pretty sure a very VERY large percentage of people[1] consider the "Sherpas" to be "The badass people who guide tourists up everest" with little consideration (or knowledge) of the group as a distinct ethnicity. Personally that is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word "Sherpa" [1] yea yea, citation needed, I have none, anecdotal evidence..
  - maaku 13y ago
    No, but that wasn't my implication. Read it again.
- mikeash 13y ago
  Is it a derogatory term for those people? If not, what's the problem?
  - maaku 13y ago
    The point is it is not nice to appropriate someone else's name for use in your product. Sherpa isn't just the name of the people, it's their family name, as in John Q. Sherpa. I would find it offensive if someone did that to me, although whether it is offensive is only something Sherpas have the right to decide. But that's kinda the point - did the OP ask permission to use their name?
    - 001sky 13y ago
      Sherpa's are famous for being guides on high-altitude mountaineering expeditions. They also have unique physcial capabilities up to ~8000 meters. This means they can typically "punch above their weight" on many challenging tasks. They need not be confused with PORTER, which is actually a job title. Porters and sherpa's also have distinct reputations, even by ethnicity. See, for example: Pakistani HAPs (high altitude porters) used on K2 and the Karakoram.[0,1] Colloquially, to 'sherpa' something means to carry a burden one would consider more than reasonable. It has its own meaning in English speaking countries, because the british (& english speaking commenwealth countries) have a history of mountaineering in the region, dating back to the early 20th century. [0] eg The Sherpas and Pakistani high-altitude porters (HAPs) started to prepare fixed lines upwards before midnight. [1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sherpa https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sherpa [not pejorative] Verb. sherpa (third-person singular simple present sherpas, present participle sherpaing, simple past and past participle sherpaed) (rare) To serve as a guide or porter for another.
    - wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
      It's not really a family name, it's more like what you would call a clan (actually a step above that, but not quite an ethnic group). It's also a point of pride to have that name (over the past couple generations Tenzin Norgay made it famous), which is probably why it became so popular among Nepalis (well, that combined with the lack of literacy and government record-keeping). Edit: Oh yeah, Nepali Sherpas would probably get a kick out of it, but that's about it.
- semicolondev 13y ago
  I'm from Kathmandu, Nepal. My first thought after seeing the HealthSherpa name was this must be a website of a health foundation somewhere which provides health services and facilities to Sherpa families in Himalayan Region. For 30M Nepalese + NRNs worldwide the word Sherpa reflects the respected guides in Mountain Expeditions. NRNs: Non Resident Nepalese.
jonah 13y ago
Nice. Fast and simple. Maybe add age on the first page with zip code. I'd love for it to have a glossary. Coinsurance? HSA? PPO? Copay? Catastrophic?
jusben1369 13y ago
Good stuff! Agree it's super simple. Can you monetize via referral fees from these links?
markhall 13y ago
Great job guys! Saw the CBS report that really complimented your efforts. I think that this is ANOTHER GREAT EXAMPLE of how tech can quickly iterate to solve real-world problems. It doesn't take millions of dollars to build viable real-world solutions
- jonah 13y ago
  It's a nice example of an interface, and a handy initial resource, but the the features/tech of this site are in no way comparable to the healthcare.gov site as mentioned in another comment.
  - 001sky 13y ago
    The purpose of this lite-app is not to replace a heavy app. The original purpose was to allow you to do something quickly (1 vs 16 clicks) to generate some momentum to knowing what your choices are. If you can understand the lanscape with 92% less work, that allows you to leverage your 92% savings to deal with the brain damage of actually using the tool that is <not being replicated in full>. So, as a complement and not a substitute conintually raising this disction is not adding any value other than noise.
    - jonah 13y ago
      I absolutely agree with you. I'm responding to the majority of press this things is getting comparing the two: "Look how broken and inefficient the government site building process is when three guys can build a slick competitor in days."
antonius 13y ago
Saw this being discussed on the news, congrats on the quick release! The simplicity of your design should put the contractors to shame who tried to build something that ultimately couldn't work properly.
- ewoodrich 13y ago
  This has been said before on different threads, but the primary issues plaguing healthcare.gov are not comparing premiums or comparing plans, but instead determining eligibility for subsidies, verifying income through state and federal database, and interoperability with the insurers' databases to actually enroll for a plan. Health Sherpa seems to provide a quick and easy way to compare premiums by region, but lacks detailed information such as deductibles, and specific provider information. Certainly helpful, but by no means a functional replacement for the requirements of healthcare.gov. (notice clicking "Apply" sends you to the home page of the insurer, and gives a phone number).
  - mattmcknight 13y ago
    Actually, that is one of primary issues plaguing healthcare.gov. The government intentionally changed the requirements to prevent you from browsing the prices of plans. This caused huge amounts of unnecessary traffic on the identity verification process while people were unable to perform even the first step of shopping. The current system actually contains this information, and probably had a nice view of it, but the misguided people in charge don't want us to see it, despite it all being nicely available in JSON at data.healthcare.gov.
    - ewoodrich 13y ago
      Window shopping was restored a month ago, and a few weeks after the rollout. [1] I would not consider that to be a problem still plaguing the site, as poor of a decision as it may have been originally. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/11/want-evidence-feds-are-trying-to-fix-healthcare-gov-here-it-is/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/11/w...
songzme 13y ago
Developers who built this app: Michael Wasser, Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos http://www.thehealthsherpa.com/about http://www.thehealthsherpa.com/about
gsharmayc 13y ago
does it work for all states ? I tried Virginia no result came..
deleted_account 13y ago
I'm legitimately confused. Is this supposed to compete with or replace healthcare.gov? I just ran an insurance search for a hypothetical Californian couple, late fifties, with an income of $60K. CoveredCalifornia found me plans with a monthly premium of $127/month (including assistance) while the cheapest HealthSherpa premium is $879/month. Is HealthSherpa really helping or are they just capitalizing on the huge IT/PR snafu that is healthcare.gov? I mean, isn't it entirely fucked up that HealthSherpa directs me to "Call Western at (888) 227-5942" without knowing that I'm eligible for government assistance? edit: a word
- ape4 13y ago
  I hope you report this problem to them.
  - deleted_account 13y ago
    What? Why? Is this a bug? It seems like their system is working great. It just gives bad advice.
- pcurve 13y ago
  Did you adjust the Household size to 2? If you've entered 2 people, then make sure you update the household size to 2 as well. If you're in your late 50s, and your household income is $60k living in San Francisco, you can get free or almost-free coverage. (Yes it's a bad design)
  - deleted_account 13y ago
    > (Yes it's a bad design) Exactly my point. This whole site strikes me as programmer hubris.
    - aptwebapps 13y ago
      How does an issue with the GUI indicate hubris?
xacaxulu 13y ago
You need a guide to navigate America's byzantine health system. Unfortunately, this sherpa might not be the one.
agildehaus 13y ago
No results for zipcode 63122.
hsshah 13y ago
This immediately got me interested since I am in the middle of subscribing to one of the plans. Here's some feedback. - First and foremost, your dataset does not seem to be accurate. For my info, CoveredCA gives me only 4 options while your site gives 8! Please update it. [Happy to PM details if you want to investigate] - I like the simplicity of design and responsiveness. Much better UI than CoveredCA. - Instead of Radio Buttons (single selection) for plan type, allow multiple. - For new folks, please include plan details so that they can decide which plan type they want.
ccbrandenburg 13y ago
I have a question as I am not from the US and this whole Healthcare.org debacle passed me by. What was the issue exactly leading to this upscream?
- eru 13y ago
  A lot of things coming together. The federal government had hoped the states would roll out healt care exchanges. Lots of states refused, so the federal government had to put up an exchange themselves. Big IT projects done by big organisations in a rush rarely go well. I'm not from the USA either, so take your pinch of salt.
vitoayesh 13y ago
Give it a try
vitoayesh 13y ago
Give it a try

64 points by songzme 13y ago

maaku 13y ago

Just FYI since most people don't know this: "Sherpa" is not a obscure word for "porter" in Tibetan or Nepali as many people seem to think. It's the name of a very small group of once Nomadic people (an large extended family, almost) living on the Nepal/Tibet border. When you hear a climber say "I hired two Sherpas to help me port supplies up the North Col" it's almost akin to saying "I hired two chinamen to help me lug these boxes around." How well do you think that would go off in civilized society? It only almost-kinda-sortof makes sense in the highest regions of the Himalayas as Sherpas apparently have genetic adaptations that make them superhuman climbers at that altitude so you might want to clarify "The climbers I hired were Sherpa, specifically." I'm not really sure at all why you chose "Health Sherpa" as a name (what's the connection?). Just FYI, you're productizing the name of a people.

milesskorpen 13y ago
"Chinaman" has a more negative connotation. I think "Sherpa" is more comparable to saying "I hired two Aussies to help me lug these boxes around."
- DrewRWx 13y ago
  It's closer to "I hired two Koori to help me lug these boxes around."
fencepost 13y ago
Hm, the connotation I have for "Sherpa" is as much "guide" as it is "porter." Of course, I'm not a mountain climber nor do I follow it, so perhaps there's a difference in usage between that community and non-climbers.
refurb 13y ago
Has the word "sherpa" ever been used in a negative context?
- rurounijones 13y ago
  Everyone I know looks upon the sherpas with a sense of awe and respect.
  - refurb 13y ago
    My thought exactly, but maybe it has a negative conotation in some cultures? It was an honest question.
  - gadders 13y ago
    I'd agree with that. I've racked my brain to see if I can ever remember a negative context, and I can't. See also Gurkha.
  - JulianMorrison 13y ago
    Racially grouped awe is a sort of racism ("black people are such good dancers!" <- racist).
    - rurounijones 13y ago
      Depends on your definition of "Sherpa". I am pretty sure a very VERY large percentage of people[1] consider the "Sherpas" to be "The badass people who guide tourists up everest" with little consideration (or knowledge) of the group as a distinct ethnicity. Personally that is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word "Sherpa" [1] yea yea, citation needed, I have none, anecdotal evidence..
- maaku 13y ago
  No, but that wasn't my implication. Read it again.
mikeash 13y ago
Is it a derogatory term for those people? If not, what's the problem?
- maaku 13y ago
  The point is it is not nice to appropriate someone else's name for use in your product. Sherpa isn't just the name of the people, it's their family name, as in John Q. Sherpa. I would find it offensive if someone did that to me, although whether it is offensive is only something Sherpas have the right to decide. But that's kinda the point - did the OP ask permission to use their name?
  - 001sky 13y ago
    Sherpa's are famous for being guides on high-altitude mountaineering expeditions. They also have unique physcial capabilities up to ~8000 meters. This means they can typically "punch above their weight" on many challenging tasks. They need not be confused with PORTER, which is actually a job title. Porters and sherpa's also have distinct reputations, even by ethnicity. See, for example: Pakistani HAPs (high altitude porters) used on K2 and the Karakoram.[0,1] Colloquially, to 'sherpa' something means to carry a burden one would consider more than reasonable. It has its own meaning in English speaking countries, because the british (& english speaking commenwealth countries) have a history of mountaineering in the region, dating back to the early 20th century. [0] eg The Sherpas and Pakistani high-altitude porters (HAPs) started to prepare fixed lines upwards before midnight. [1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sherpa https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sherpa [not pejorative] Verb. sherpa (third-person singular simple present sherpas, present participle sherpaing, simple past and past participle sherpaed) (rare) To serve as a guide or porter for another.
  - wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
    It's not really a family name, it's more like what you would call a clan (actually a step above that, but not quite an ethnic group). It's also a point of pride to have that name (over the past couple generations Tenzin Norgay made it famous), which is probably why it became so popular among Nepalis (well, that combined with the lack of literacy and government record-keeping). Edit: Oh yeah, Nepali Sherpas would probably get a kick out of it, but that's about it.
semicolondev 13y ago
I'm from Kathmandu, Nepal. My first thought after seeing the HealthSherpa name was this must be a website of a health foundation somewhere which provides health services and facilities to Sherpa families in Himalayan Region. For 30M Nepalese + NRNs worldwide the word Sherpa reflects the respected guides in Mountain Expeditions. NRNs: Non Resident Nepalese.

jonah 13y ago

Nice. Fast and simple. Maybe add age on the first page with zip code. I'd love for it to have a glossary. Coinsurance? HSA? PPO? Copay? Catastrophic?

jusben1369 13y ago

Good stuff! Agree it's super simple. Can you monetize via referral fees from these links?

markhall 13y ago

Great job guys! Saw the CBS report that really complimented your efforts. I think that this is ANOTHER GREAT EXAMPLE of how tech can quickly iterate to solve real-world problems. It doesn't take millions of dollars to build viable real-world solutions

jonah 13y ago
It's a nice example of an interface, and a handy initial resource, but the the features/tech of this site are in no way comparable to the healthcare.gov site as mentioned in another comment.
- 001sky 13y ago
  The purpose of this lite-app is not to replace a heavy app. The original purpose was to allow you to do something quickly (1 vs 16 clicks) to generate some momentum to knowing what your choices are. If you can understand the lanscape with 92% less work, that allows you to leverage your 92% savings to deal with the brain damage of actually using the tool that is <not being replicated in full>. So, as a complement and not a substitute conintually raising this disction is not adding any value other than noise.
  - jonah 13y ago
    I absolutely agree with you. I'm responding to the majority of press this things is getting comparing the two: "Look how broken and inefficient the government site building process is when three guys can build a slick competitor in days."

antonius 13y ago

Saw this being discussed on the news, congrats on the quick release! The simplicity of your design should put the contractors to shame who tried to build something that ultimately couldn't work properly.

ewoodrich 13y ago
This has been said before on different threads, but the primary issues plaguing healthcare.gov are not comparing premiums or comparing plans, but instead determining eligibility for subsidies, verifying income through state and federal database, and interoperability with the insurers' databases to actually enroll for a plan. Health Sherpa seems to provide a quick and easy way to compare premiums by region, but lacks detailed information such as deductibles, and specific provider information. Certainly helpful, but by no means a functional replacement for the requirements of healthcare.gov. (notice clicking "Apply" sends you to the home page of the insurer, and gives a phone number).
- mattmcknight 13y ago
  Actually, that is one of primary issues plaguing healthcare.gov. The government intentionally changed the requirements to prevent you from browsing the prices of plans. This caused huge amounts of unnecessary traffic on the identity verification process while people were unable to perform even the first step of shopping. The current system actually contains this information, and probably had a nice view of it, but the misguided people in charge don't want us to see it, despite it all being nicely available in JSON at data.healthcare.gov.
  - ewoodrich 13y ago
    Window shopping was restored a month ago, and a few weeks after the rollout. [1] I would not consider that to be a problem still plaguing the site, as poor of a decision as it may have been originally. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/11/want-evidence-feds-are-trying-to-fix-healthcare-gov-here-it-is/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/11/w...

songzme 13y ago

Developers who built this app: Michael Wasser, Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos http://www.thehealthsherpa.com/about http://www.thehealthsherpa.com/about

gsharmayc 13y ago

does it work for all states ? I tried Virginia no result came..

deleted_account 13y ago

I'm legitimately confused. Is this supposed to compete with or replace healthcare.gov? I just ran an insurance search for a hypothetical Californian couple, late fifties, with an income of $60K. CoveredCalifornia found me plans with a monthly premium of $127/month (including assistance) while the cheapest HealthSherpa premium is $879/month. Is HealthSherpa really helping or are they just capitalizing on the huge IT/PR snafu that is healthcare.gov? I mean, isn't it entirely fucked up that HealthSherpa directs me to "Call Western at (888) 227-5942" without knowing that I'm eligible for government assistance? edit: a word

ape4 13y ago
I hope you report this problem to them.
- deleted_account 13y ago
  What? Why? Is this a bug? It seems like their system is working great. It just gives bad advice.
pcurve 13y ago
Did you adjust the Household size to 2? If you've entered 2 people, then make sure you update the household size to 2 as well. If you're in your late 50s, and your household income is $60k living in San Francisco, you can get free or almost-free coverage. (Yes it's a bad design)
- deleted_account 13y ago
  > (Yes it's a bad design) Exactly my point. This whole site strikes me as programmer hubris.
  - aptwebapps 13y ago
    How does an issue with the GUI indicate hubris?

xacaxulu 13y ago

You need a guide to navigate America's byzantine health system. Unfortunately, this sherpa might not be the one.

agildehaus 13y ago

No results for zipcode 63122.

hsshah 13y ago

This immediately got me interested since I am in the middle of subscribing to one of the plans. Here's some feedback. - First and foremost, your dataset does not seem to be accurate. For my info, CoveredCA gives me only 4 options while your site gives 8! Please update it. [Happy to PM details if you want to investigate] - I like the simplicity of design and responsiveness. Much better UI than CoveredCA. - Instead of Radio Buttons (single selection) for plan type, allow multiple. - For new folks, please include plan details so that they can decide which plan type they want.

ccbrandenburg 13y ago

I have a question as I am not from the US and this whole Healthcare.org debacle passed me by. What was the issue exactly leading to this upscream?

eru 13y ago
A lot of things coming together. The federal government had hoped the states would roll out healt care exchanges. Lots of states refused, so the federal government had to put up an exchange themselves. Big IT projects done by big organisations in a rush rarely go well. I'm not from the USA either, so take your pinch of salt.

vitoayesh 13y ago

Give it a try

vitoayesh 13y ago

Give it a try