[toomuchtodo]

> The social benefits feel largely like gimmicks

Get back to us the first time you have a medical emergency putting you on the hook for 5 or 6 figures (after insurance); at least you're lucky enough to be able to flee the jurisdiction back to a home country.

[kcorbitt]

> Get back to us the first time you have a medical emergency putting you on the hook for 5 or 6 figures (after insurance)

Is that a thing? Obviously there are lots of people in the USA who don't have any good health insurance options. But as an engineer in San Francisco all the companies I've worked at or interviewed with have had gold-plated health insurance plans with maximum out-of-pocket expenses in the low 4 figures. And of course, most people won't hit those maximums most years, that's just an upper bound.

This is of course limited to my personal experience, but my impression is that good health insurance is table stakes for highly-paid engineering roles.

[toomuchtodo]

~1 month ago

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/27/6408918...

HN Thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17859897

> but my impression is that good health insurance is table stakes for highly-paid engineering roles.

Hit or miss. Definitely depends on the company.

[kcorbitt]

That's a very unfortunate story. As I mentioned, I recognize that many people in the US don't have any good healthcare options, which is something that we as a society ought to fix.

However, I don't think we can learn much about the health insurance typically provided to engineers in San Francisco from the poor insurance plan available to a teacher in Houston. Those jobs have very different compensation profiles.

[toomuchtodo]

The problem is you're not going to have a solid understanding of your engineering role plan until you're employed, and even then, even with "preapproval" from the insurer, it might turn out you don't have the coverage you think you do.

My firm is in financial services. Very nice plan. Even with my "nice plan", we've had the insurer renege on their coverage of services (thousands of dollars in services) after receiving approval and having it in writing prior to obtaining services. YMMV.

[captain_perl]

> typically provided to engineers in San Francisco

Ever notice how many companies change their health care provider every year?

Company health care premiums are going up at 20% to 30% per year, thus doubling every 3 to 4 years.

What do you think is going to happen to your co-pay in a couple of years?