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I'm pretty fortunate that I work at a major university. When both my wife and I worked here, we were doubly lucky as the employer paid most of our premiums. We each paid about $23 per month for full HMO coverage. As maligned as HMOs generally are, ours is pretty good really. No deductible at all, office visits are free for primary care, $15 for secondary care. You get to choose your primary care doctor too, so if you know you are going to be seeing an endocrinology guy for some pre-existing condition, you can register that as your primary and you don't have to pay each time.
Now that my wife is home with our baby, my premiums shot way up. I think it is $326 per month to cover the whole family. Still not too bad, I guess, but we are paying about $4000 per year for seeing the doctor about 1 time per year per person. Factor in what my employer is paying into the system too and it is more than $10K per year. At least we got our money's worth when our son was born. The total bill was something around $7000. We paid $0... maybe $50 for hospital admission co-pay.
I've been pretty healthy for years now and I often wonder how much I've paid into the health care casino vs. how much they've paid out. I recognize that as I age the dynamic may shift, but for now I know that I've paid in WAY more than I've gotten out.
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