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As an independent you have the burden of putting money aside for all social charges (medical...)
As a resident of a country with universal health care, you have the burden of paying more taxes.
Your pick.
I'd rather be phishing!
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In my country the taxes paid for the National Health Service + the residual cost of the services erogated are way lower than the full cost the same health services have in other countries (in Australia one colleague of mine was charged 5000$ for an appendicitis... here with less than 200€ you're set).
Drawback? Constant abuse of the Health System means that for some analysis there are queues of 3 years, even for urgent ones. And a lot of money are wasted due to judicial meddling (including homeopathy and acupuncture as provided services in some regions) and organized crime (a syringe costs 2c in the North, 7c in the South... from the same provider which charges the same price).
DURA LEX, SED LEX
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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Well that's the socialist fantasy  The reality is that you pay more in taxes so that the unemployed obese smokers get access to healthcare and so that fretful mothers have somewhere to take their child with every cough and sniffle, and the feckless can get a doctor for their cold or blocked nose, and if you actually need health care you need to pay private on top as it's the only way you'll get proper care without waiting a year.
So you actually pay more taxes and pay on top.
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Coworker of mine is Canadian. Drives across the border to work at our company everyday. Isn't enrolled in US healthcare. He's never waited more than a few hours for emergencies (broken bones), or a few weeks for less-emergency care (new orthopedic for a child). He does, however, have to pay out of pocket for prescriptions. And he claims his taxes are only about 5-7% higher than mine.
Anecdotal, I know, but still a sobering set of facts.
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Daaron wrote: As an independent developer, have any of you found better options than either paying the high premium or taking the uninsured risk?
Well, three years ago I married my gf of seven years. She has a great job (makes more than me!) with a great insurance plan. (that just went up 10% this month) Problem solved! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Daaron wrote: My US health insurance has increased to an unaffordable level.
To what, if you don't mind me asking?
I recently looked up prices in New York through the marketplace and bronze level, for an individual, was $360/mo. Reasonable, I guess. Though the prices become insane if I'm the only income earner and have a family (fortunately, not married, kid is 24, and even if wedding bells are in the future, I would NOT, never, ever again, take on the financial burden of paying her health insurance or anything else for that matter.) But that's another long story.
Marc
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Hi Marc,
This is in the Texas marketplace, bronze level for me+wife+child is $1050, up from $620.
Cheers,
Daaron
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Daaron wrote: is $1050
Yup, adding spouse and dependents makes insurance insane.
Marc
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Marc Clifton wrote: $360/mo
I do not know what you get for that money, but that must be one hell of good care...
I have highest level possible with my company and I pay about 200 NIS ($50)...
(And as I saw the healthcare here is better than the US, but I may be wrong)
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: but that must be one hell of good care...
Nope, that's the lowest level, highest deductibles, they choose the provider (can't go out of plan) and no extras. To improve those options, I could go "silver" or "gold" level, I think gold was around $800/mo, for one person.
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: And as I saw the healthcare here is better than the US, but I may be wrong
Healthcare, IMO, is better just about anywhere than in the US.
Marc
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There are cost sharing groups that work just like insurance but are not and they are way cheaper. I'm only familiar with Christian health sharing groups but there may be others. If you google "christian health sharing" you'll find some but you need to be Christian.  Perhaps google health sharing options.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Hi Ryan,
I have googled health sharing options, and the only ones appear to be Christian. However, that stipulation precludes me. I was hoping someone knew about a secular health share that I cannot find.
Cheers,
Daaron
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Daaron wrote: that stipulation precludes me.
It's never too late. 
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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You're going to have to either raise your rates to compensate for this or find a full-time gig with benefits. There's a reason why you'd typically ask for higher rates as an independent than a regular full-time employee would get, because you have to pay for all of your own "benefits" (medical, dental, life, disability, and try to save for retirement).
Another option would be to shop for insurance in surrounding states. If one is significantly lower, you may have to move down the road if you don't think you can raise your rates to match the insurance rate increases.
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Cuba has great healthcare.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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...
...
...
Nope, I've got nothing.
Has anything interesting happened?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Nah, nuthin' ever happens.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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No. They think that democracy should do what they think is good... I saw a statistics, that suggested that Trump was elected by under-educated, old, white male citizens... But even so - he was elected!!!
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Are you talking about elections or erections?
I'm retired. There's a nap for that...
- Harvey
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Yet Clinton actually got more votes, so it could be argued that democracy failed.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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I do not know what are you voting for in the US... If for the person, than the US system is totally wrong. However if it is for party, it is not unheard that one party got slightly more votes but didn't formed the government and PM is from the other party... They call it coalition...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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They mistake democracy for equality, fighting against discrimination/sexism/racism. So when someone is either of these or doesn't have combating this as their main priority they believe its undemocratic. The same can be seen in Europe.
Basically their definition of democracy has shifted from being a system where you vote to being a set of values.
I do believe it's a big part because of this Trump was successful as well as "far" right parties keep gaining ground in Europe. The middle class in these countries has been left out of focus for so long that they feel threatened and even trampled upon so when someone appeals to them it doesn't matter that those values aren't a priority.
I read an article at cracked a few months ago that made me believe that Trump would win because of these reasons. One of the main parts of the article was that large swaths of America feels left out, mostly outside the bigger cities. Combine that with my view on American infrastructure severely lacking its relatively easy to see how he can appeal to so many.
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