It’s easy to go to healthcare.gov and buy health insurance without an employer.
You just don’t get to buy it with pre tax income, and most employers don’t or can’t pay enough for people to afford the premiums and out of pocket maximums. If you are young and without kids and assets to seize, you might as well ignore health insurance.
This is an unfair picture of the healthcare.gov, isn't it? Or are you/wife not making close to (or more than) the top of the $84,600.00 USD sliding scale?
I pay less than $100.00 a month for an incredible plan, and I have the option of paying nothing for a decent plan. My $750.00 MOOP pays for my many health concerns. Obviously, my income is low, but health insurance is an "easy" part of my life.
Apprenticeships pay $15.00-$20.00 per hour. This is low enough that healthcare.gov pays for the insurance in full. It wouldn't be the best plan, but it would be enough for free therapy, office visits, and drugs. This is in line with the life/age/etc. of most apprentices.
That said, it would be rare for an apprenticeship to be with an institution that wasn't legally required to offer a plan. The plan would be terrible, and it would disqualify the apprentices from healthcare.gov.
There are no guaranteed healthcare benefits in the US. So either the employer or the employee (or both) is on the hook for significant expenses.
Apprenticeships are generally low compensation on the understanding that gaining skills is part of the equation.
When the apprentice can't afford rent (thanks private equity) or healthcare (thanks....also private equity) or much else, the whole system breaks down.
Since Sputnik everyone was told to go to college or you're a loser, that peaked in the 2010s and finally busted with Covid, people are just laying flat. Kids put in tons of work, all of the opportunities never materialized.
Its a Structural employment mismatch. We got a preview in 2008 with all the layoffs that became the event that pushed people out of the workforce for the rest of their lives. And there is no retraining programs, because leadership doesn't care. K-type recovery is fine for them
Stem and service jobs could have easily been filled, but leadership would rather ship those overseas.
AFAIK students are routed into apprenticeship programs quite early in Germany and some other European countries, early enough that American sensibilities find the idea off-putting.
The idea that your future career outlook is basically determined by the time you’re a young teenager is seen as unnecessarily limiting.
In practice there are plenty of apprenticeships for the trades, but they start in high school or later and are functionally socially invisible to people that go to college. Probably because there is more economic segregation in the US than in most European cities.
Maybe sometimes they stay in the family? Like if the father is in a relatively special trade then the son continues when the father retires? Or is it a myth?
Interesting, I've been considering going the other direction, finances permitting, and having an artist-in-residence or student artist visit my ceramic studio for a few weeks or months in the summer. I feel like it's uncommon to be given access to a reasonable studio, materials, room and board, and a stipend.
Was wondering and discussing with somebody yesterday why USA does not have a strong apprenticeship culture like Europe does.
Hard to have apprenticeships when you're dependent on your employer for health care
It’s easy to go to healthcare.gov and buy health insurance without an employer.
You just don’t get to buy it with pre tax income, and most employers don’t or can’t pay enough for people to afford the premiums and out of pocket maximums. If you are young and without kids and assets to seize, you might as well ignore health insurance.
Easy? Its costing me 1200$ per month for my wife and I and we are in our 40s
This is an unfair picture of the healthcare.gov, isn't it? Or are you/wife not making close to (or more than) the top of the $84,600.00 USD sliding scale?
I pay less than $100.00 a month for an incredible plan, and I have the option of paying nothing for a decent plan. My $750.00 MOOP pays for my many health concerns. Obviously, my income is low, but health insurance is an "easy" part of my life.
Apprenticeships pay $15.00-$20.00 per hour. This is low enough that healthcare.gov pays for the insurance in full. It wouldn't be the best plan, but it would be enough for free therapy, office visits, and drugs. This is in line with the life/age/etc. of most apprentices.
That said, it would be rare for an apprenticeship to be with an institution that wasn't legally required to offer a plan. The plan would be terrible, and it would disqualify the apprentices from healthcare.gov.
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For 1200 a month you could have excellent coverage from Kaiser.
What about folks in the 42 US states where Kaiser doesn't operate?
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Easy and expensive are different things.
Apprenticeships are very popular, oftentimes overly popular, for many of the trades.
This comment has no connection to reality.
I am sure they are. But afaik some european countries have much stronger institutionalized trades programs.
https://www.aasa.org/resources/resource/Youth-Apprenticeship...
Why? Afaik, apprentices are employees, with all the benefits that that entails.
There are no guaranteed healthcare benefits in the US. So either the employer or the employee (or both) is on the hook for significant expenses.
Apprenticeships are generally low compensation on the understanding that gaining skills is part of the equation.
When the apprentice can't afford rent (thanks private equity) or healthcare (thanks....also private equity) or much else, the whole system breaks down.
Since Sputnik everyone was told to go to college or you're a loser, that peaked in the 2010s and finally busted with Covid, people are just laying flat. Kids put in tons of work, all of the opportunities never materialized.
Its a Structural employment mismatch. We got a preview in 2008 with all the layoffs that became the event that pushed people out of the workforce for the rest of their lives. And there is no retraining programs, because leadership doesn't care. K-type recovery is fine for them
Stem and service jobs could have easily been filled, but leadership would rather ship those overseas.
AFAIK students are routed into apprenticeship programs quite early in Germany and some other European countries, early enough that American sensibilities find the idea off-putting.
The idea that your future career outlook is basically determined by the time you’re a young teenager is seen as unnecessarily limiting.
In practice there are plenty of apprenticeships for the trades, but they start in high school or later and are functionally socially invisible to people that go to college. Probably because there is more economic segregation in the US than in most European cities.
Maybe sometimes they stay in the family? Like if the father is in a relatively special trade then the son continues when the father retires? Or is it a myth?
we just call it "unpaid interns"
Interesting, I've been considering going the other direction, finances permitting, and having an artist-in-residence or student artist visit my ceramic studio for a few weeks or months in the summer. I feel like it's uncommon to be given access to a reasonable studio, materials, room and board, and a stipend.
This looks awesome. I’m the ideal customer for this and am delighted it exists.
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