I'm sorry to hear this. Cancer is awful. Best wishes. I feel horrible about joining a young business as an albatross instead of an asset. Don't. It's not your

I'm sorry to hear this. Cancer is awful. Best wishes. I feel horrible about joining a young business as an albatross instead of an asset. Don't. It's not your fault. You don't even know that you're going to have any effect on their premiums and even if that happens, it's going to be a small effect in comparison to everything else that startups have to deal with. If I start at my new job I'm afraid I will endanger the business and raise everybody's premiums. Don't worry about that. You shouldn't feel guilty about anything... unless you're a health insurance lobbyist or executive or a legislator who fought healthcare reform, which you're obviously not. Just focus on getting well and giving the people around you, your job, and most importantly, yourself, your best. Seriously, fuck everything else. This is your life. Besides, an 18-person company that can't survive one employee getting cancer (and I suspect that it can) is a company that doesn't deserve to stay in business. So: take the job, get covered, and work when you can. I left my old job on good terms but have no idea how they could justify re-hiring an employee who left and may not be productive / able to work. You'll be able to work, although not at 100%. It's not like life stops when you undergo chemo or radiation. Yes, those therapies are brutal (my mother had cancer, twice) and you'll probably need to take a few days off for each one, but you can still be productive some of the time. Let's say that you need 6 cycles of chemotherapy (over 18 weeks) and that each involves three days during which you can't work. (There's a lot of variation. Some people drive themselves to chemo. Some people need a week to recover. Three days seems to be average, from what I've heard.) That's only 18 sick days. It's nowhere close to a deal breaker. Focus on getting well. Don't feel guilty because you didn't do anything wrong.