> Any reputable tech company (or startup) will provide health insurance

... which generates another dependency on the employer (beyond the work visa thing).

I know the history of the employer-pays-for-health-care model in the US, but really: it's broken, fix it.

Oh, it is difficult to overstate just how broken the system is until you've experienced it and a more sane alternative (my daughter was born here in the US and I'm Canadian).

However, from a lifestyle perspective of a great programmer it's a non-issue. Once a person has an H1-B it is trivial to change companies. So even though technically you're tied to an employer (visa + healthcare), in a city like SF where a great programmer can get a job in a day (literally), it's a total non-factor.

But seriously after experiencing the american healthcare system a couple of times the only phrase I can use to describe it is "pure evil". I can pay my way out of that pure evilness, but it is evil that 99% of people can't. So I can totally understand if you don't want to be a party to that system for moral reasons, but that's a lot harder to be consistent about.

You already have that dependency in terms of your visa. If you don't work for your employer anymore, you don't have a visa any more, and you need to leave the country fairly quickly or get a new visa elsewhere. In the light of that the healthcare part doesn't matter as much.

You're right, the healthcare issue bites citizens much more than work visa holders (who are already screwed).

It's still broken (like so many other things in the US) and therefore one more deterrent to even considering going the work visa -> green card -> citizenship route.

$100k doesn't even approach upper-middle class. It's not 1995 anymore. $100k is arguably lower-middle class. Consider the fact that most college students are graduating with $50-$100k in student loan debt, then they move to the Bay Area and pay $3k per month for a one bedroom. After 28% federal income tax and food costs it's surprising that they even survive on $100k.

$3k is a pretty nice 1-bedroom... which isn't really necessary if you're just going for survival (e.g. you can get a studio, share a place, etc.).

So thats ageism then. Because a studio almost requires you to be single and or have no dependents. Also - you're not finding a one bedroom for under $3k in SF proper in 2014 regardless of condition.

Is ageism an issue when you're talking about recent college graduates (which you were)?

And try looking beyond the most popular neighborhoods.