It's a dangerous area to discuss, since facts are in a state of flux thanks to our congress' desire to please the pharaceutical lobby.

A decade ago, I bought an individual HMO plan with Kaiser Permanente costing $169 per month I did this because I'd previously had my health care through my government employed wife, who passed on after a long illness resulting from a stroke. Within a year it had increased by $100, the following year, the monthly premium was $369, and the next year it was at $469. In addition, my copay for a doctor's visit went from $5 to $10, to $20 in that period, and, the last year, the dosage for my pharmaceuticals went down from 60 days to 30 days, while the copay went to $20 from the prevous $10. As I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was using several medications that I had to procure every month.

After that, I gave up. Now I use the medical plan available through the Veterans' Health Services (formerly Veterans' Administration) which costs me considerably less, though I do have some substantial cost.

As a private citizen, under the aegis of no insurance plan, a typical doctor visit costs between $75 and $90 while insurance generally pays on the order of $25 for the same service. This is kept under wraps, of course. Medicare, the government plan for the retired, pays less, of course. That's why they heap it on the uninsured.

My girlfriend's brother had a heart attack while up in my front-yard tree. It was not obvious what was wrong, but it turned out he had a substantial blockage in arteries in his heart, ultimately requiring three or four stents be installed. He has an individual plan with Kaiser Permanente, and his bill from them after the whole thing was over, was about $9000. He's about 5 years younger than I, and pays about what I refused to pay when I left Kaiser. The coverages are spottier than they were when I was in the plan, BTW.

RE