[seanmcdirmid]

A lot of these issues would go away if employers weren't responsible for providing healthcare group plans. But then again Europe also has similar drives to classify Uber/Lyft drivers as full time employees so they are entitled to other benefits and employment securities (but those don't exist in a very strong form in the USA anyways).

[theplague42]

Employers are not required to provide health plans. The issue is that Uber provides _some_ employees with health plans while keeping their lower-paid workers classified as contractors, even if they work essentially full-time.

[lmeyerov]

As soon as you're 50+ folks, you're required to provide health insurance. The US system is broken enough that you will do it before then too.

All founders I've talked with about it find it crazy that they're determining the healthcare choices for their team, and it's much worse when they are supporting a diverse team.

"""Fred has 3 kids and cares about their dental, Tim mostly cares about mental health, Alice runs ultramarathons, and Bob just got married. The main things we have in common are we like building cryptocurrency tech and work in similar time zones."""

[seanmcdirmid]

> Employers are not required to provide health plans.

Employers are required to provide health plans to any part or full time employees (excluding contractors) who work more than 30 hours a week.

[jimmaswell]

Am I an employee of the bottle machine company if I deposit bottles I find? Do they owe me healthcare and a minimum wage if I took more than an hour to find so many bottles? How is uber any different?