lobe

I am an Australian university student studying Software Engineering. I was scheduled be over in the USA completing my final semester on exchange right now, however 6 months ago I fell quite sick, and after 3 horrible months I was diagnosed with Crohns Disease. The good news is that with proper treatment prospects are good and life should return to normal. The bad news is that most people diagnosed are stuck with it for life, and some of the treatments can be expensive (mid $X,000 per month) if the government / insurance doesn't help out.

When I am done with uni I want to move to the USA on an E3 visa (basically H1B for Australians) to take advantage of the work opportunities and satisfy my sense of adventure. If I were to do so, assuming I were to work for a large employer (e.g. Google / FB):

1. Am I correct in assuming health insurance is provided by my employer? 2. Am I at a disadvantage already having a potentially expensive chronic condition? 3. What happens if I move jobs / become a freelancer / join or start a startup?

Apologies if these are straightforward questions, however from an outsiders perspective trying to use Google to find the answers has left me even more confused. I figure that there must be many people on HN who have been through this themselves.

As much as I want to move to the USA, being shackled by health insurance makes me reconsider given I don't have any of these problems in Australia. I am currently struggling to differentiate between the truth and the horror stories of the USA's health system

As the title hints at, I am studying software engineering at UNSW in Sydney. In the 1st semester of 2016 (my final semester) I want to go on exchange to the USA, and use that opportunity to have a fantastic college experience and to meet potential future employers.

What would you call the tech hubs of the USA? Silicon Valley is obvious, Seattle also comes to mind, and I have heard that Austin and New York (although is that just due to the size of the city, not density of tech companies) also are 'tech hubs'. Are there any other areas that I should consider that have a lot of larger companies that would be willing to sponsor the visa for a software engineering grad?

So apart from asking where should I go, the other question is 'what are the grad recruitment patterns in the American tech industry?' Are companies willing to help bring international graduates to them? Am I limited to large companies, or are smaller organisations also in a position to hire overseas applicants? Are there fixed intakes once a year for new grads (common in Australia) or is the door open year round? Thanks, just trying to weigh up my options here