I had high hopes at the beginning of the presidential campaign, as both candidates have qualities I admire -- then they opened their mouths, and after x months of speaking fluent half truths, I realize it's:
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same-as-it-ever WAS!
Anyhow, in CT, reasonable quality small business (50 employees or less) employer provided health insurance is priced by the age of the employee and number of dependents attached to the primary insured. There are also separate pricing tiers for single employee, employee & spouse, then family price tiers. A 20 something single employee may cost around $300 per month. A 60 something employee & spouse costs around $1400 per month. Those prices include prescriptions, but no dental. For myself (age 51), my wife & 1 child, I pay $1,200 per month, and the first $1,500 is an annual deductible for each person via an HSA, at $4500 total. The coverage is through an old LLC I held onto, as I am absolutely un-insurable in CT under an individual plan basis, due to being a Cancer survivor with Diabetes. No soup for me! I have no idea what other states do with their insurance contract laws - only CT.
People who pay their employer $100 or what have you for a co-pay often have no idea how expensive health insurance is to the employer. I had the Anthem pricing by age chart scanned for posting, but it's in hiding at the moment, else I'd post it.
As we all know, there are no easy answers to this situation. If we do socialize health care in the US, we can only hope it does not come equipped with the efficiency of the Post Office, combined with the compassion of the IRS.
