So, Would You Give Up The Day Job?

Atlantis said:

Wow that's alot. I pay $30 a month for my health insurance.

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I'm going to guess that you are either:
1. Purchasing it through your full-time employer or
2. Not in the United States

The US system screws over anyone who doesn't have a corporate employer, (whether through choice or through inability to find a full-time job).

Trying to buy health insurance in the U.S. by means OTHER than through an employer is either extremely expensive (if you are healthy), or outright impossible (if you have any sort of health condition, on medication long-term, etc.).

writers are always making so much about health benefits. Sure they're important, and fortunately I've got them. But if one has the money they can get coverage on their own. You can get a great policy for a thousand a month, which adds up to 12K a year or a good policy for a few grand less. Sure that's a lot, but it isn't a fortune or impossible sum.

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Where's that damn jaw-drop emoticon...

(Just assume that my mouth went slightly agape just now)

12K is somewhere around 75% of my annual salary. To some of us...it's a pretty impossible sum for insurance.

Key phrase is "if one has the money"

I wouldn't quite my job if somebody offered me a million for my next book. But mostly because I work in the family business and quitting would leave my family in a lurch.

But I would make some changes in how my life is structured. Much more time would have to go to writing, because I doubt that million is going hang around for a decade or so since that is how long it would take me to write a book in my usual writing-pace.

I'd also have to learn how to write a book... That would require some effort for this hobbyist short story writer.

LindaJeanne said:

The US system screws over anyone who doesn't have a corporate employer, (whether through choice or through inability to find a full-time job).

Trying to buy health insurance in the U.S. by means OTHER than through an employer is either extremely expensive (if you are healthy), or outright impossible (if you have any sort of health condition, on medication long-term, etc.).

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Yep; if you lose your job (in the U.S.) you're supposed to magically come up with an extra several hundred a month to continue your health coverage via COBRA (for a limited time). No money because you're out of work? SOL.

I've been uninsured for a long time. And even if I had money, I don't think anybody'd sell me a policy now because of pre-existing conditions. (There are provisions of Obamacare that change that, but they don't go into effect for a couple more years.)

If I had a job, I'd probably quit. Unless it was something of pure awesome that I loved... but that's kind of unlikely.

LindaJeanne said:

Trying to buy health insurance in the U.S. by means OTHER than through an employer is either extremely expensive (if you are healthy), or outright impossible (if you have any sort of health condition, on medication long-term, etc.).

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What really got me after my dad lost his job and we had to find insurance elsewhere was that the companies treated all medical conditions the same. If you had anything at all, your costs went up insanely. My mom expected her's to cost a lot. She had cancer years ago. I cost as much as she did. I've got asthma.

gothicangel said:

Inspired by a different thread . . .

So, say you are offered a 1 million [£ or $] contract for your next book, would you give up the day job to become a full-time writer?

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In a minute. Right now I'm planning to go back to grad school for a career that's about as important to me as being a writer. But now, not so much.

No. I wouldn't quit my day-job -- I need the social interaction, the change of envrionment and the unique challenges this job offers. Writing full-time? I've tried it. It's not for me. I love it, but knowing myself well, I need the variety -- the more the better. And my writing also benefits from it. Isolation is detrimental for me.

Oh, and if it's just a million? How long will that last? Not long enough here -- most of it would vanish into payments for various necessities. The remainder? Spent on nothing or part of it will be invested, the rest saved.

Heh.

I only work a very few hours a week, so I probably wouldn't give it up. My main job is to raise my kids...and I don't think I'd be able to give that one up. *wink*

Health insurance? Hmmm, yeah, about that... it sort of comes with the income tax and national insurance for us

Besides, I've been reliably informed that I may be on my Wife's cover for her work... assuming what I need it for is not related to either of my prexistings...

This is why it was good to have a left wing government early last century...

Day job? What's a day job?

Ken said:

... writers are always making so much about health benefits. Sure they're important, and fortunately I've got them. But if one has the money they can get coverage on their own. You can get a great policy for a thousand a month, which adds up to 12K a year or a good policy for a few grand less. Sure that's a lot, but it isn't a fortune or impossible sum.

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My insurance, would cost around 1800 a month for a family of four in good health. Given the pre-existing conditions I wouldn't be able to get the same coverage I have through my employer at all. Not even close. Watching my Aunt die from cancer was a big eye opener.

This thread makes me wonder why so many people are anti-socialised healthcare.

scarletpeaches said:

This thread makes me wonder why so many people are anti-socialised healthcare.

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Because Obama...the government...France would be speaking German if it weren't for...old people...


'MER'CA!

scarletpeaches said:

This thread makes me wonder why so many people are anti-socialised healthcare.

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There are quite a few of us who do want some sort of health-care reform.

I had more to say on this, but thought better of injecting that level of political opinion into this thread.

areteus said:

Health insurance? Hmmm, yeah, about that... it sort of comes with the income tax and national insurance for us

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I suffered my only major injury while on vacation in the UK. The folks at Blackburn Royal Infirmary took very nice care of me without ever saying, "How are you going to pay for this?" (or, apparently, caring that I wasn't a British national). If we had NHS here, I'd be happy to pay taxes for it (soon as I got a job).

Yes.

I would be one happy writer. Working two jobs,being a mom and the thousand things that come with both leave me very little time to write.

To be able to write full time and sit on my behind in a fully equipped BatCave like study would be the stuff of dreams.

Excuse me while I weep quietly.

scarletpeaches said:

This thread makes me wonder why so many people are anti-socialised healthcare.

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I think all British think that... but we are used to it. I remember the big internet debates about it and these points stood out to me:

- Many Americans saw it as a start of a slippery slope into the thrice accursed curse of Communism. And that means you get McCarthy turning in his grave (though the side effects of that is you could probably fasten a dynamo to his coffin and generate enough power to possibly keep the eastern seaboard lit for a few years).
- Many British people are happy to diss the NHS for all its many faults and foibles but woe betide any foreigner, especially a bunch of former colonists who went rogue, who dares to speak out against such a fine institution. Dare to diss OUR NHS and you shall feel the wrath (and that is wrath pronounced WROTH!) of the British Empire in as many rabid forum and blog posts as we can be arsed to write in the 30 minutes we feel upset by it...

Cos, you know, its our NHS and only we are allowed to say how shit it is...

There should probably be a British sense of humour emoticon in here somewhere but I am too tipsy to find it...

:

I've known for a while now that I really don't want to make fiction writing a job. It's something I do for fun, because I'm passionate about it. I'd love to have more of my stuff published, but it's not a priority for me and it's not a career goal. I'm sure I'd take the contract, but I wouldn't use it as a chance to change career plans.

I would love to make a career out of my writing interest and ability, but not as an author.

I don't have a normal, x-hours-a-week, paying day job, but between being a SAHM and working at the church I keep busy. I wouldn't want to miss a minute of either of those things.

Oh, hell yes.

Shara said:

I've been surprised by some of these answers - I hadn't realised how many people enjoy their day jobs.

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Keep in mind the self-selection bias: this is a publicly viewable forum, and even those with anonymous handles may not be all that anonymous.

I think I'd go stir-crazy writing full-time; I'm in no hurry to give up my "day" job -- but if I were, I wouldn't announce it here.

In a New York Second.

And those are quick. From what I understand.

I've thought about it but I don't think I could so easily give up a life of crime.

I don't know. I like doing science. Maybe I'd go part time.