OK, I have to go with the flow.

Most of what employees think of as health insurance isn't. The employer contracts with Big Health Company ("BHC")to 'administer' the 'plan'. BHC then deals with Dr.'s, sets fees, coverage etc. They get $$ from the employer for the services, and send the employee health care bills back to the employer (in a round about way). The employer is 'self-insured', and the BHC that cuts the employer's cost in health care gets his contact renewed next year. The one that doesn't is replaced. Health care costs thus impact your employer's bottom line.

True war story. I was in a small 60 person company. The spouse of secretary had triple by-pass; the company was 'self-insured' with a big "health insurance' provider; the cost of the triple-bypass caused the company president to miss his profit target for the company that year and cost him his bonus. Then there was a lay-off and the secretary with the spouse with the heart condition was laid off.

Even with an individual health insurance policy, its like getting auto insurance with a bad driving record if you have a chronic, serious medical problem, like in our case, diabetes. If you have to ask how much the policy costs, you can't afford it. It's called "rating;" they raise your rates so basically you pay their estimate of how much you will cost them plus their admin fee and profit.

My apology for the rant guys, and the continued hijack.
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"Better is the enemy of good enough."