Any HN conversation that starts out as a debate about Obamacare and ends up saving someone a few thousand dollars a year is a good conversation, so you are very welcome.

Health insurance prices are a nightmare. Please don't let me come off as sounding like I don't think they are. The goal of the ACA was fix that problem, and though it fixed some very important problems, it surely didn't fix that one.

Interesting! Are there no other options available? This is clearly an inferior option for the self-employed. I'd go with another provider with a higher premium and without this curious shares thing. How is that legally not health insurance? Baffling. What state are you in?

It's just the cheapest one to set up. I was assuming that if someone's self-employed and not deducting insurance, they're probably a sole proprietorship, and are probably sensitive to accounting costs.

As I understand it, and your accountant is an expert while I am not, you have to be actually self-employed --- not moonlighting or doing side-work, with your money all coming in through the LLC --- and your spouse can't be eligible for group coverage through their job.