. . . “A relatively short stay in a hospital can bankrupt someone,” said Bruce Bachenheimer, a professor of management at Pace University and director of its Entrepreneurship Lab. He said that, anecdotally, he’s seen many people who will take a job they don’t even care about just to get health coverage. “It’s become such an important factor,” he said.
The average age of people who create a tech start-up is 39, and not 20-something,” said Bachenheimer, despite the famous examples created by people such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. On top of that, there are twice as many tech start-up founders who are over the age of 50 as those who are younger than 25, he said.
Entrepreneurs are willing to take on risks, but health care is not a manageable risk, said Bachenheimer.
“There is a big difference between mortgaging your house on something you can control, and risking going bankrupt by an illness because of something you can’t control,” said Bachenheimer. No one can predict a car accident or a serious illness, he said.
“Entrepreneurs actually don’t see starting a business as risky as many people think, because they are so confident in their abilities and their idea,” said Bachenheimer. “But they would see going around without health insurance as a risk.”
Read the article by Computerworld.