Item — HN Reader

This probably applies to start-ups as well. I wonder how many would-be start-up founders changed their minds after realizing they would not be able to afford health insurance without a full-time job.

Reminds me of an article I read last year about how there are more start-ups in Norway because the country has a really wide and extensive social safety net, so people don't have to worry about hitting rock bottom if they quit their job to pursue their own endeavors.

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I'm lucky to live in Canada which has pretty decent health care, but I looked into supplemental health insurance (for dental coverage, etc) when I started contracting, and the premiums for the services you got were just ridiculous.

The annual premiums were way more than I would ever spend, and I would have to be paid in for three years before I would even get any dental benefits.

I ended up going without supplemental health insurance until I got married, upon which I got coverage under my wife's plan.

Who were you getting supplemental insurance through? Blue Cross kicks in dental after a couple of months, from what I recall.

This was several years ago, but Blue Cross was one of the several companies I looked at - the policies were pretty much the same across companies.

I ended up not getting any. The only thing I was looking for was dental, since most basic health care is covered by the province. The rates I found were around $2K a year, easily more than I would normally spend, and when I read the fine print, I couldn't get comparable dental coverage to my previous full-time job without having been paid in for 24 months.