by russell
As most folks probably know, I write code for a living. I build software. It's a funny industry, by which I don't mean funny-ha-ha, and is prone to strange enthusiasms. It can be a little volatile.
I currently work for a company that's been around for a while - probably about 12 years, depending on when you start the clock. The owner started by reselling a software-based service, using licensed software running on a small server farm in his basement, then acquired some IP and an engineering team to deal with it, and over about a decade built it into a not-bad little privately owned company, with a very healthy revenue-per-employee ratio, a nice recurring revenue business model, and lean but pretty effective operations.
Nice!
Of course, just running a nice profitable business is no longer a thing, these days everybody wants to cash out, so over the last year and a half or so we've been purchased twice, once by a bunch of finance nitwits who wanted to be a Big Deal in the "cloud space" (we are not a cloud company), and after those guys more or less ran themselves into the ground, we purchased again by a smarter crew who bought the assets on the cheap, because the first guys were running out of (other people's) cash and needed some kind of lifeline, however temporary.
"Bought the assets" means stuff, not people, so most of the employees have been cut loose. A handful of folks, including me, are being kept on for a couple of months to do "knowledge transfer", which basically means train our replacements. We'll get a minimal bonus if we stick it out for three months, but most likely none of us will be here that long, one way or another.
All of this is back story, offered for your reading pleasure, and to afford me an alternative to mumbling to myself while swilling Jack on ice in a dark dive somewhere. Thanks for your indulgence.
What I'm really writing about here is what happens next.
I've already found another job, and will start there later this month. After getting this done, my first question was, "does my current insurance continue after I leave Current Employer until I start at New Employer, or is there a gap?". Because I live in the US of A, and like most folks here I get my insurance from my employer.
I've gotten a couple of answers to that question so far - "No" and "it depends" - so the next thing I looked into was re-negotiating my start date at New Employer so there wouldn't be a gap between end of current job and start of new job.
I send an email, HR person at new job says "Call me, it's easier to explain that way".
So, I call. New Company HR person says, "Actually, your coverage with us doesn't start until the first day of the second full month of your employment with us". I chewed on that for a minute and realized that what she meant was "May 1". So, not just a gap, but a large gap.
While I was sorting all of that out, New Company HR person continues on to say, "What most folks do is go without insurance, unless something happens, in which case they sign up for COBRA, which is available for 60 days, and which will be retroactive in case you need it for things that happened before you bought it".
I was somewhat taken aback by this, not realizing that this kind of paper-trail time-travel was on offer, but I realized the logic of it. COBRA can be spendy, and why buy it before you need it? I also realized why she didn't want to email me the answer - it's probably not in her interest to be on record as advising folks how to game COBRA coverage.
And, I also realized what a freaking cluster***k live in these United States is becoming. Or, is already.
People ask why I think single payer is a good idea. I think it's a good idea because what we do now is a sleeveless shambles. It's inefficient, it's convoluted beyond belief, it requires smart-ass gaming to make it work at all. If people's health wasn't at stake, it would be comical. Sadly, it's not comical.
And yes, in a perfect Chicago school world, the unfettered market would make a thousand flowers bloom. Unfortunately, what we've already seen is the "unfettered market" actors refusing to insure existing conditions, and/or going over people's paperwork after taking their premiums for decades to find some weird disqualifying typo so they can refuse coverage.
I, personally, am going to be fine. The industry I work in is healthy and growing, my skill set is in demand, I have a good resume, I have a new job in hand. My job and industry pay pretty well, I'll cash out some vacation time on my way out, I can cover a month of COBRA if I absolutely need to. It'll work out. I'm quite lucky.
I have no idea what most folks do, or how they get by.
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