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I pay $600/month for my "employer provided" health insurance

idk man I just need to vent i guess

my employer "provides" health insurance in exchange for my time and labor, and for that great privilege they take $600 out of my paycheck every month (covers me, my wife, and our 1yo son)

that's half our monthly mortgage payment; it's 2/3 our monthly grocery bill

why?

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  • Mine is about the same for family coverage, and the shocking thing is that it's pretty good relative to the market -- my previous employer was about ~100/mo cheaper for an equivalent HDHP plan, but I've seen much, much worse.

    Honestly, though, even more than the cost (having run the numbers, the tax I'd pay in a European country to cover similar services is about the same, all things considered) is the sheer level of friction that insurers inject into the healthcare system. You have to get a referral to a specialist even if you know you need to see one. You have to get insurance authorization for specialty treatments. You have to think about deductibles and out-of-pocket-maximums, and Lord help you if you start having complex medical problems around the end of the year and the maximums reset in the middle of your treatment!

    We pay out of pocket for a direct primary care pediatrician for our kid (on top of his insurance, to cover any meds or emergencies) and the fact that there's no insurance to deal with means that it's vastly easier to get a hold of her to get a medical opinion whenever there's a bad bump or a strange rash that needs a professional opinion. It's shocking to see how things could be if insurance companies and PBMs and for-profit hospital networks hadn't inserted themselves in between patients and doctors, with a sole eye towards making sure they pay out at little as humanly possible while maybe keeping patients alive in the process.

112 comments