Re:CEO of Uber: Gig Workers Deserve Better
by griffinkelly on Monday August 10, 2020 @11:45AM
(#24110508)
Yeah, had President Obama not made that change and extended health insurance to 26, I would have thought harder about quitting my job.
Sure, a safety net paid for by employers, not the gov’t.
Re:CEO of Uber: Gig Workers Deserve Better
by pbiggar on Monday August 10, 2020 @12:57PM
(#24111388)
Once you agree a safety net is a net positive, then it comes down to implementation.
In this case, the employer is the parent's employer. Which means that the people who can take the risk to create startups is limited to "people whose parents have health insurance". Which excludes a large section of society, including for example poor people.
(also--and this might be a bit of a jump for someone just learning about inequality of opportunity--but a fun thing to research online is "why is the US the only country with employer-based health insurance", especially once you discover the answer is "slavery")!
Re:CEO of Uber: Gig Workers Deserve Better
by erik_seaberg on Monday August 10, 2020 @06:01PM
(#24114534)
During World War II, the US government imposed price controls to prevent the market from reflecting the reality of shortages. Employers started competing by offering health insurance because they were barred from raising wages.
Re:CEO of Uber: Gig Workers Deserve Better
by pbiggar on Monday August 10, 2020 @06:10PM
(#24114615)
Thanks for the correction!
I actually confused my facts here - it's tipping I was thinking of that comes directly from slavery. Employer-paid health care just _continues_ because of racism, as opposed to being created by it.
> I quit my job and thanks to the insurance changes in the US a few years ago
So you're saying that you were able to take the chance to build a startup because of the safety net?