Vouching for Quality Health Care

As an entrepreneur, CEO, and venture capitalist, I've experienced virtually all the headaches our health insurance system can bring. For instance, a chief engineer left a company backed by my venture firm so he could work at a larger company; alas, the bare-bones (and barely affordable) insurance plan at our portfolio company didn't cover his child's illness. Or consider our encounter with rates that varied by as much as 100% in a year because one employee had expensive back surgery and we couldn't spread the apparent risk over our tiny base of co-workers. Then there are the hours of wasted time filling out unintelligible claims forms to pay for unexpected tests and procedures of unpredictable expense.

It's hard to contribute to the national recovery when you are so distracted. I know I would never invest in a company as badly run as our health-care system.