[codegeek]

"Pay for COBRA"

Yes but COBRA can cost upto 102% of the cost which was mostly covered by your employer before. Now that you are laid off, you have to pay the whole thing (sometimes employers are nice to still cover when they lay you off but mostly they don't). For a family of 4, it can easily be $2500/Month depending on the state you live in.

[JB_Dev]

You missed this critical part “you easily make enough money to…”

If you are making >$250K year, an extra $2500/month is not a significant bump. Especially as it is temporary while you are between jobs. Temporary could even be a year or longer.

Factor that cost into your emergency savings and draw down when you need to. You still end up massively ahead of a developer outside the US.

I am not endorsing the US system - it is objectively garbage. But the point is that the pay difference more than makes up for the downsides in healthcare.

[codegeek]

I don't know. I am a very idealistic person when it comes to spending money. I hate spending even $5 on what I think is extortion and bullying which is what the healthcare costs in US are. I am privileged enough to be able to afford it but still don't like it and would do anything to get rid of it.