Obamacare’s impact on our startup and what to do to avoid rate hikes

Not to the OP, but if the author or someone from distilnetworks.com reads this: you probably shouldn't have a customer service bot proactively try and chat with people who are just reading your blog.

I was under the impression you were exempt if you have under 50 employees. I don't know how this effects traditional startups.

Yes, if you are on the younger end of the spectrum, your premiums are likely to go up. If you are on the older end of the spectrum your premiums are likely to go down, or at least, you're now able to afford insurance. If you own a company in an industry that employs people on the younger end of the spectrum, yes, you might be paying a bit more so that your employees can afford healthcare in their later years. Previously your costs were artificially low.

"Now, you can still do some of those tricks, but not as extensively." The language in this blog post make it pretty clear that this isn't a company you want to work for. Stop trying to nickel and dime your employees. Provide good affordable health care for everyone from the CEO down to the cleaner. Be a socially responsible entity. Make that one of the pillars of your business. Success without it isn't success at all.

After historically being handcuffed with limited options, it's good to see small companies taking a proactive approach to an evolving health insurance marketplace.