Lucian Florian 🔥

@nateliason Hades and Hades II Hack and slash. Immersive Greek mythology. Fast paced. Easy to pause whenever.

What’s the best video game to play while Claude does all my work? Factorio is too addictive, needs to be a little more casual.

@benjihyam Somehow I’ve made it 15 years in business without getting any work through LinkedIn. I never could stand the interface.

I'll know I've made it when I never have to login to Linkedin again

@salvin_joseph @ramit two million in 50 years is about 450k in today's money –accounting for 3% inflation

@ramit Here is this payment compounded at 8%…

Would you pay an extra $500,000 in interest to save $300/month on a 50-year mortgage?

@reallyoptimized @dvassallo No, not at all. Insurance companies are legally obligated to pay claims even in a downturn. And get subsidies from the government. They also get government subsidies (ACA: $138B in 2025). That’s why ACA is less risky.

@fldtrace @dvassallo Couldn't that be a problem with any insurance company? They need the revenue to pay claims.

Just cancelled our health insurance ($1,395/mo) and signed up for @JoinCrowdHealth instead ($595/mo). I'll try the experiment of saying "I'm paying cash" at the doctor's office, and see what happens.

@reallyoptimized @dvassallo Cool didn’t know it’s a peer to peer. In case of a depression the people may exit and there may not be enough money to cover larger bills. The system works in growth but it doesn’t have track record when the economy is down.

This is why it's important to understand the difference between CrowdHealth and other health shares. CrowdHealth is a peer to peer setup. They don't pool funds. This makes all the difference. Which means it can scale up or down and the results should be the same. Why would the funding rate drop?

@reallyoptimized @dvassallo I don’t know yet if they may see something in the bloodwork that can trigger a denial later. But yes maybe it’s a non issue if you’re generally healthy.

@fldtrace @dvassallo What is your concern about the 2 year wait on preexisting? It's not really a plan for those with pre existing anyways and anyone signing up should know if it's a good fit.

@reallyoptimized @dvassallo True, the odds look good now, but the risk isn’t zero. You still have the two-year wait on preexisting conditions, plus what happens if an economic downturn drops the funding rate to 80%, or the company goes bankrupt, as happened with Trinity HealthShare.

@fldtrace @dvassallo Why would you have a big and uncovered event? What is the "real" risk of CrowdHealth not funding it when they fund 99.9%? I would say that's an easy calculation weighed against $200k, no?

@reallyoptimized @DonnieAles @dvassallo Yes, it’s still worth it for us. The peace of mind, HSA benefits, and tax deduction. However, that may change if they continue to increase the prices.

@fldtrace @DonnieAles @dvassallo Nearly $1k more than CrowdHealth. It's a lot and adds up real quick.

@dvassallo @reallyoptimized That makes sense, and your logic is sound. The key is weighing that $150K–$200K upside against the small but real risk of a big uncovered event. And if the HSA isn’t a factor, that makes the comparison even closer in CrowdHealth’s favor.

I expect the net savings to be higher, more like $15K/year, because with insurance we never hit the $6K/$12K deductible and pay everything out of pocket, but we still spend thousands every year on various things as a family of 5. If CrowdHealth covers some of those expenses, we'll save substantially there with just a $500 "deductible". So we're looking at ~$150K savings over 10 years, which would become $200K invested at 6%. Now if I were to get something catastrophic that CrowdHealth cannot fund, I would almost certainly be able to finance the bill and pay over 15 years at low/no interest. In some cases, I might have other insurance (Home, Auto, Life with benefits, Disability, etc) to cover as well. For something chronic like cancer, I could always join ACA again during the 2.5 months of its open enrollment window, so the exposure is clipped there as well.

@DonnieAles @dvassallo @reallyoptimized We pay $ 1,411 for 2026, which is for a family of 3; it was $1,141.01/mo in 2025. For a family of 4, it would be roughly in the $1,540–$1,750. But we're in SC, so things are cheaper around here.

@dvassallo @fldtrace @reallyoptimized Curious @fldtrace what was your cost for a family of 4 on ACA or Private Insurance? We are looking at crowd health and a ACA Bronze plan family 3 HMO HSA is $1k per month. Not bad. Crowd health would be $600 per month.

@nateliason How would it work in the case of an economic downturn? Or if it goes out of business and you’re left to cover a large bill? Similar to Liberty HealthShare? Shouldn’t you still keep ACA insurance as a backup to ensure wealth preservation?

Draft is done, but can still add things before tomorrow so if you have any questions drop them in!

@enis07 My point is that for HNWI, ACA coverage removes uncertainty and offers far greater protection than CrowdHealth especially in an economic downturn. “Trust us, we’ll pay” isn’t a market mechanism, it’s faith. Look into other health-sharing groups that failed.

Lucian, I would argue that Daniel has REDUCED his risk by moving to Crowdhealth. The plan that Daniel is leaving is an ACA Ambetter HMO plan, one of the worst plans you can have. Ambetter is owned by Centene. Please ask a dozen or so people who have spent significant time in the insurance and medical industry about Centene and its related entities. It has, perhaps, the worst reputation of all of the health insurance companies. The games that traditional insurance companies can play on behalf of your health between denials, referrals, prior authorizations, appeals complications is head spinning. Crowdhealth and other healthshares don't NEED to be obligated to pay claims, they just pay them, because that is the agreement that they have with their customers. That's how the private markets work. I don't need the government protecting the claims being paid. If a reputation emerges that an organization is not paying claims then I will take my business elsewhere. "well what if its a catastrophic scenario that happens and they don't pay, then its too late to take business elsewhere" OK, then I can further backstop the healthshare with cash indemnity supplemental policies from mutual insurance companies with a 5 million dollar limit as well as living benefits riders from mutual life insurance policies to further backstop organ transplants, cancer, and other scenarios. Combine these supplemental policies with the healthshare and I'm STILL hundreds of dollars less per month in premiums AND have SIGNIFCANTLY more freedom and flexibility in choosing my healthcare providers. Furthermore, the average person looks at the premium differences and says that crowdhealth can't possibly afford to pay out catastrophic claims charging only 600/month for membership in comparison to an insurance company charging 1300+/month. Yes, it can. In fact, the private markets, including healthshares, have priced catastrophic coverage for age bands 30-49 at around this price. Some a little more and some less. How? By eliminating the bottom quintile of income earners, adding limitations and exclusions for pre-existing conditions, upskilling staff on how to negotiate cash pay pricing for procedures, adding easy access telehealth and urgent care, amongst other things. Speaking of the bottom quintile of income earners. The average person has no idea how much the insurance companies have preyed on the poorest of people. It is very sad, tragic really. I have underwritten thousands of low income folks in this country and the layers of medications and diagnosis our medical and insurance system have burdened them with would radicalize you, with a significant amount of it stemming from ACA and Medicare Advantage HMO plans siphoning money from taxpayers. Please know I'm not targeting you, Lucian, directly here, I am using your message as an example because other share a sentiment similar to what you shared here. The majority of people do not realize how deep the rot is in the medical system. Insurance companies have brainwashed everyone into thinking that medical costs are millions of dollars and we have to have them in order to pay for care. It is simply not true. It is all a shell game of fake numbers and corporate and government bureaucracy.

@reallyoptimized @dvassallo @JoinCrowdHealth Yes our high deductible BCBS Bronze 3 which is HSA compatible is going up from $1100 to $1400. I think the situation is more complex and it depends on your situation. I also don’t disagree with investing the difference. It comes down to your risk tolerance.

@fldtrace @dvassallo @JoinCrowdHealth What's your deductible? Add that to the potential cost... But sure. If you can get a good HSA plan for $700 for a family of 4, go for it. Cheapest one here is $2k+/mo.

@reallyoptimized @dvassallo @JoinCrowdHealth If you have a family of 4 the difference is not that large. In Daniel’s example (and our situation) the difference is ~10k/year. HSA is $8550/year which can save ~$2k upfront depending the income bracket. It also compounds tax free where it really shines.

@fldtrace @dvassallo @JoinCrowdHealth The savings are significantly more than negligible with minimal risk. I save $20k/yr. Which makes your HSA look pedestrian.

@enis07 @dvassallo @JoinCrowdHealth CrowdHealth isn’t legally obligated to pay claims. That’s a big risk if a major medical event hits. The savings difference might not be even close to offset a major incident.

The only thing that matters is that catastrophic health bills get paid for per the terms of the membership. Without understanding acturially what's happening under the hood, claims payouts vs denials, and their risk pools you cannot make a declarative statement about the risk involved with crowdhealth vs insurance in covering hypothetical future bills, especially if the delta in savings is being allocated to an investment account

@chris_nectiv @ahrefs I just tried. It sounds good in theory, but then good luck waiting 10 minutes just to compare the traffic with the previous year. If the performance improves, it would be great to address some questions.

I'm so excited, I'm shaking right now! @ahrefs launched an MCP which means you can DIRECTLY CONNECT ChatGPT to have it perform SEO analysis:

@benjihyam Cherokee Purple tomatoes are absolutely delicious. The grocery store ones don’t compare. If you ever get into growing your own you can order the seeds online from a place like @rareseeds

I’ve hated tomatoes my whole life and it turns out, it’s only because tomatoes in the US taste like dirty water. Tomatoes in Europe are amazing.

@SMB_Attorney This was most likely for the ABC patent in the crotch area. Anti Ball Crushing (ABC) is amazing for the guys comfort level in the crotch. Once you try them you won’t want to go back to a classic fit ever again.

Oh wow this is truly shameful Costco! Does anyone know which aisle? This is so terrible I have to see for myself

@dvassallo I could never give up that much control of my time, but if it gives you purpose, it’s probably worth it.

I do a lot of Zoom calls