This isn't really true. You can incorporate a company and as long as you have two US citizen employees, you can get a company health plan that bypasses pre-existing conditions. (This is true in California by law, but I am not sure about other states)

Wow, that this problem exists in the US wasn't even on my radar. I could understand that you couldn't do a startup because you might be too sick yourself or have to spend time caring for a sick family member, but the financial aspects of it never crossed my mind. Being from a country with universal healthcare completely moves that out of the picture.

Now I understand why you guys on here think this is such a big deal to US startups.