[throwaway31338]

I abandoned my business of 15 years last year because of worry about availability of health insurance. It looks like I was in a similar situation to you.

My business was going well. I was making equivalent income of a bit more than a high-end salary for my skill set in my area. I was fine (grudgingly) paying the premiums.

The problem was that there was absolutely no assurance insurance that would actually cover anything would be available in the future. We had "marketplace" plans for a number of years. Eventually there were no "silver" marketplace plans available in my locale (and "bronze", with 20% "co-insurance", means I'm going bankrupt if I have any significant events anyway, so I might as well just have no coverage).

I gave up and took a job. I couldn't expose my family to the risk of not having any insurance available. It was crushing.

I took the route of not having employees and was unable to qualify for "business" plans. I guess I wasn't "successful" after all, since I didn't aspire to grow the business beyond what would support my family.

[heavyset_go]

Stories like these are reflective of the fact that there are higher rates of entrepreneurship in countries with universal healthcare.

[weaksauce]

it's insane to me that the democrats haven't latched onto this as a talking point... it's a pro-small business move that would spark entrepreneurship that both sides love to talk about. the big businesses know that it will kneecap their ability to retain employees with the threat of losing their subsidized insurance.

[irlib]

Does the "bronze" plan have "out of pocket maximum"? It supposed to be 20% up to the OOM and total coverage after, right?