As someone who no longer has his terminal ileum (Crohn's), I wish him the best, hopefully he can get better without surgery. Its really not something you want to go through if possible...
Well good luck with everything. Assuming the surgery goes fine, there aren't any long-term effects besides having to get vitamin B12 injections every few weeks (since your terminal ileum is where your body absorbs most of it), but itll be at least 10 not-that-great days in the hospital =/
I hope Andrew feels better - I've only spoken to him once over the phone, but he struck me as an extremely passionate and geniune man with a lot of wisdom to share about the art of entrepreneurship. May he have a speedy recovery (and get back to eating cheeseburgers, as he indicated in his post ;) )
I'm not American so I'm wondering, how does he pay for this treatment? Does it come from insurance that he gets as an individual, or would his business pay for it all? Curious how things like this would affect a startup.
I would expect he has insurance of some sort. In America, that is typically tied to employment, however, he probably has individual insurance. Depending on how his business is structured would depend on who pays for it. Who pays for it in this situation is probably a function of getting the best tax deal out of it.
Now, he might have straight health insurance. In which case he pays x%. His insurance company may or may not have a deal with the hospital to negotiate a lower rate. In either case Andrew would pay x% of the finial cost up to a certain cost. There may also be a copay he would be responsible for.
If he has an HSA, then he pays everything unto a certain amount typically $3500 - $5,000 and he can put tax advantaged money into what's called an HSA account.
HSA's make sense for young people, 'regular' insurance makes sense for older people or people with lots of health problems.
EDIT: Interesting Side Note...
In America, it is typical to get "This is not a bill" bills. Basically, it is a statement from the hospital that outlines all the expenses, but it states, "This is not a bill" on it. You will then get the real bill from the insurance company, which is typically a lot less. For example, a family friend spent 3 or 4 days in the hospital before she passed away and racked up ~$300,000 in medical expenses. The family ended up paying about $2500 for the medical expenses.
So there aren't any insurance with 100% coverage? He would always have to pay some percent of the final costs?
I'm a french expat living in China and I get 100% coverage (up to 3 million dollars) everywhere in the world except the US and canada for 3250$/year. To also have coverage in the US, it would cost me almost double price...
As a side note, when I was researching insurances for expats, I found that American insurances like Allianz had a lot more exclusions than European ones...
I am sure there are 100% coverage plans, but I would expect them to be very expensive. Many health insurance plans basically say, the most you will pay in one calendar year is $x,xxx. Since it's so early in the year and assuming his year starts on Jan 1st, I would expect that he will have some expense for the doctors visit.
A personal example,I pay the first $3500 dollars of medical expenses and most things after that are covered. I pay about $2500 a year for high deductible insurance. So the most my out of pocket expenses for the year would be ~$6000. Because I'm a part of an insurance plan they've pre-negotiated rates with hospitals for me. My full medical expenses for the year tend to be around $3000 ($2500 insurance payments + $500 medical expenses).
Ok, then I actually have something similar... I can get the insurance 1100$ cheaper if I agree to a 1250$ yearly deductible..
And actually your insurance is then about the same price as it would cost me to have worldwide coverage including US and Canada as someone who is under 30 years old. Except that I can't have a deductible this high...
Good question, most of the expats insurances I've seen exclude both Canada and US except if you pay the higher version... I've never been to Canada so I don't know how the healthcare situation and cost is there.
Thankfully, one of the first things I did when I moved back to the US last year is get insurance. I'd hate to think what would have happened if I didn't.
I expect to pay about 20% of the total costs. But with insurance companies everything is a big question mark.
Well, I have no knowledge of Andrew's personal situation, and I probably wouldn't talk about it if I did. But for people in Andrew's general situation, here's how it goes.
They might have insurance --- which is often obtained through the employer, but doesn't have to be. (And which might pay for only certain procedures, or only for doctors and hospitals who have a prior arrangement with the insurance company; also, many policies will pay most of the bill, but not all of it.) Insurance obtained through employers is often a better deal, since the employer is insuring a group.
However, there's nothing yet requiring them to have insurance. (The Obama administration's reform bill will require it, but that provision is not yet in effect, and is already being subjected to court challenges.) If they don't, they're personally on the hook.
And losing access to employer-sponsored healthcare plans is indeed a disincentive to people who might otherwise want to strike out on their own.
He is back from Argentina. Believe he is in Washington state or North CA from memory.
Edit: MichaelApproved below said Washington DC, which is probably actually right, all I remember was Washington being mentioned in an interview and assumed he is on the west coast.
Hope you feel better soon Andrew. I was in hospital last year, and when you can't keep fluids down, its better to go to the hospital than wait it out at home.
I enjoy your interviews, and hope to put the knowledge into action when I launch my new company soon.
Hope everything works out for the best, and you're all shiney soon. If you're having stomach issues though, maybe a burger and fries isn't the best meal you could look forward to? Maybe celebrate with some sushi!
Back when we were still in LA figuring out grubwithus, Andrew used to give us some valuable advice -- he was always so willing and able to help. Get well soon buddy
Hey Andrew, get better and have lots of good food. It's been amazing watching your interviewing grow more improved, more subtle, and better at getting interesting answers over the years. You're an inspiration dude - best wishes to you and yours, and here's hoping for much health and good food on the horizon.
