I know its not cheap. As a biz owner I also act as the health plan admin. I see the rates our employees pay. We have some employees who payroll checks are cut by 50% because of health. Some of them opt out just because of the cost, even though we pay half of their premiums. On the flip-side, we are close to a number of prominent doctors here in the DC area and many of them are leaving practice just because their costs are too high. The biggest complaints are malpractice premiums and managed care (health ins. co's are only paying back pennies on the dollar for care). It is only going to get worse, not better.
To save, we switched our employees to a HRA - cut costs by 40%.
But don't cancel.....I had no health ins. for a couple of years prior to getting married. I was in great health and had no problems. Then, I decided to get insurance. Glad I did. Within a couple of months, I had appendicitis. The operation was over $12k, but insurance covered all but $50 (emergency room visit). And this was over 10 years ago. I can only imagine what it could have done to our finances.
