9 karma · joined January 9, 2022
We live in a developing country, she has an local job while I have a remote job.
We've still got separate bank accounts but we'd like to use shared account instead.
Prior to 2020, I was earning similar to her. Then I got this job and we tried out best to avoid money conflicts by making it all ours.
Fact: we spent over 100% of our combined pre tax income since 2020 on cancer treatment for a family member.
This is what I tell friends thinking they'll take their kids out of school to give them a better education: they'll be socially unprepared in life.
Even if their social needs are supplemented, other kids will ask: what school do you go to school? And not having an answer can cause great embarrassment (I know, I've felt it myself).
It appears from that we'd need my family member to relocate there though, since chemo treatments are usually ongoing for years at a time.
What I found was that there is proper healthcare here, but it is all out of pocket. Only accessible if you can pay for the oncology drugs from the pharmacy that imports it from the US.
Otherwise you form queues waiting and waiting for the government to get hold of the drugs (it almost never does) and waiting for them or repair their radiation machines which are always broken.
Before I got this client I was earning 33K USD a year (high for my country). When I got this job offer I asked for a figure - despite my best efforts for them to give me one - and they came back with an offer of 20% more. Of course I was over the moon so didn't consider how competitive my salary was. I figured I'd easily get any health insurance I wanted for me and my family. Fast-forward one month and we have the cancer diagnosis and the bills start coming in.
I will look into this topic with other freelancers. I need to find out freelancers hang out online and learn from their experience.
You've been a great help, I appreciate the time you've put into these responses.
> Employers offering Healthcare options to employees is more of a failure of the healthcare system in the US than a positive employment perk.
I think this is a failure in many countries including the one I'm in. Employee-sponsored health insurance seems to be the best workaround.
> Your company chooses the Healthcare provider they partner with. You are likely ineligible to be covered by their provider.
Fair, my employer's health care partner probably can't insure people outside the US. There are new health care providers that cater for remote companies and their employees [1] but I don't have a good understanding of how good their offering is.
> Contractors do not get benefits. This has nothing to do with you being international. If you were based in the US, you would not be provided with Healthcare either.
Good point. I'm not sure if my employer is treating me like an international contractor though. I have a boss, don't get overtime, can't work for other clients, signed a non-compete, etc.
The latter part of your response is fair. I think I got the mindset that I'm a de facto employee. I work on a team where everyone else is an employee and I don't seem to be treated differently. Here's where I think I need to explore alternatives and see what my options are.
I don't know what you're going through but I feel you, stay strong. Yesterday the stress and anxiety built up to a point where I had to let it out and cried a bit. It's a cycle that repeats every couple of weeks. I'm thinking about getting in touch with a psychologist, I don't want to develop depression or anxiety issues.
> I saw Cigna has an international plan that might.
I'll look into that, thanks for the suggestion. I'd researched a few and their reps told me they wouldn't cover pre-existing, but I hadn't looked at Cigna.
> On a side note, maybe it's possible to manufacture the drug yourself?
Kadcyla is the drug, by gut tells making it myself is not a viable option for a number of reasons.
> I guess the other option is to find a different job, with a local company, that will provide insurance.
Local health insurance companies don't cover oncology drugs. Also, they pay 4x less than what I'm getting now (I'm in a small South American country).
I'm sorry to hear that. What's worrying you the most at the moment with relation to the health issues?
> $110k USD is likely to be a very large amount in your country, as it about 150% the median household income in the US.
It is a very good income for this part of the world, and also a good income for the US as you say. While higher pay can get you part of the way, there's some things that it can't get in my experience. For example, if I take out private health insurance at Allianz, it doesn't cover pre-existing conditions. Company-sponsored health insurance does usually cover pre-existing conditions.