Back before I got old enough to qualify for our socialized medicine, I got a notice every year notifying me of the annual premium increase.  Then shortly after my birthday I always got another notice saying something on the order of: "Wow, you didn't tell us you had became another year older too, so now we will jump it up somemore."   lol

Before we got on socialized healthcare, our premiums were $700 / month for each of us or $1,400 total / month = $16,800 / year. And that rate was lower because we got on a State sponsored pool. Then we had a $7,500 deductable / person / year or a possibility of spending an additional $15,000 / year or a total of $31,800 just for health care costs that included no optical or dental. Remember now, that deductable was / year and it reset when Jan 1 rolled around. Woe be onto you if you landed in the hospital in the last week of Dec, as you would then be looking at $30,000 out of pocket for care plus insurance premiums if your stay extended into the first week of the year. Now our socialized medicine premiums (Medicare) are $99 and change / month per person. Medicare supplement is roughly $100 / each and the deductable is $0. Medicare is going up to $105 / month in 2013 but it surely feels like a weight has been lifted when we look at $5,000 per year as opposed to what the private coverage was costing.
One thing you soon discover about health insurance companies is that they are really, really good at math. They fully understand that if you have been carrying coverage since you were 40 or so and you are getting close to your 60s, the odds are beginning to tilt toward them actually having to pay out more. So they start really raising rates after you turn 50 and as 60 approaches, they really turn up the screws and actually try to encourage you dropping coverage. I'd shudder to think what private coverage would cost for someone who was 70, or 75.
We starting carrying coverage in our 40s as that was when we began to actually have some assets worth protecting. Of course, every year the premiums increased and we were afraid of dropping ins. because any pre-existing conditions would keep another company from accepting. Every year, they called and increased rates and every year we swallowed the increase. When I was 52, the insurance company called and said they were leaving the state of MT and would no longer be able to provide coverage and it was tough luck for us and just too bad if we had any pre-existing conditions.
When I was a young man, I grudgingly paid my SS and Medicare taxes and complained bitterly, all the while lamenting the fact that I'd likely never see a dime of benefits. Of course, the generation before me said the same thing and they were just as wrong as I was.

I am self-employed. I buy my own health insurance.  I have a "high deductible policy" - actually, a Health Savings account.  I am billed 4x per year.  My last bill was $3400 - it had just gone up.  Previous quarterly bills this year were running just over $3000.  I would have to look, but I think my deductible is somewhere in the $2000-3000 range.  Which means I pick up the first dollar of coverage to that point, and the policy picks up 100% after that.  If my memory is correct.  Not all policies are set up that way, but that is how I got mine set up.

I would have to go back and look how long I've been with this company. I believe when I started, the quarterly bills were running under $1000.  I think I figured up one time, that my health insurace costs have been rising somewhere between 15-20% every year.  Some years it did not go up; some years it went up more.  But, on average, it has gone up about 15-20%.  Again, that is from my memory, and it's been a while since I did that analysis, so my memory could be wrong.

johnypop

I really question the Harvard study thing. I guess I don't know everybody, but I have known some personal bankruptcies (court-ordered) and none that I knew were medically induced.

Short term disability insurance is available here, and as I remember the cost isn't great for a young couple but to be honest I haven't really looked at it too closely because it's something I could handle by myself if it happened and when that's the case, I don't consider insuring. Long term disability is included as part of our Social Security package. If you have a few years of work history and become disabled for more than a year, then you become eligible for a SS retirement payment. Your wife and minor children also recieve what I think is half of your payment for each. A wife, two children, and your payment would end up doubling the amount you would recieve. I'd guess if you had a moderate level of income during your work history years, you might be looking at about $4,000 / month in just SS. SSI might add more to that, especially if minor children were involved. After two years of disability, you'd become eligible for Medicare coverage to take care of your health insurance needs and that could be a major expense as a result of what caused your disability.
SS is also quite generous to surviving spouses and minor children, in the event of death of the head of household is his work history was enough to warrant a payment.

One other thing that often gets overlooked when discussing insurance rates and coverages is the benefits of being in a group. Businesses with a big enough workforce, like schools, highway department, county workers, hospitals, and I guess in places where large labor unions exist, can negotiate a considerable better rate than an individual farmer. I often think of myself as a lonely antelope on the savannas of Africa, surrounded by hungry lions as I'm shopping for coverage as an individual. Throw in a mention of diabetes and even the lions won't eat you because your money has a sour taste. The hospitals, and doctors, and labs, and pill companies will dine on your carcass if you happen to become sick though. If you happen to get everything spent and are still alive, I guess you could take some comfort in knowing that you won't suffer too much longer because life prolonging treatments are going to dry up.
This group rate discount is a big enough deal that the local school district started to offer the chance to buy in with their group if you would agree to serve on the board. I have to admit it looked kinda tempting, but having done some time in that job before, I decided the pleasure wasn't worth the pain and just continued to pay the "Lonely Antelope" rate until I made Medicare age.

Here's a link to an article on Bloomberg on the issue.

You may not know of anyone with backruptcy due to medical costs, but that does not make it "not true".

My part of the statement is still true. I do not know anyone that has filed personal bankruptcy due to medical costs...solely. Unless the article can print the name of someone that I know, I'll maintain my position.

I'll have to assume that other posters all know individuals that have filed personal bankruptcy due to medical costs....solely.

As I read the Bloomberg link, if you have med insurance, the average for those that filed bankruptcy(?), out of pocket med expense with no insurance was $26,000. The average WITH insurance was $17,000. Do I read those figures correctly? Those are the amounts that cause the personal bankruptcy?

You know, Ron,  I think Bloomberg is pretty much a reputable business magazine.  Don't you think?  So, if it was printed in Bloomberg, I would think it would have some credibility to the facts.  Don't you think?

You know, Ron,  I don't personally know anyone who has had an abortion either.  But I am told that women do have them, so I guess it is true.  Even though I can't list names of specific persons who have had them.

I don't personally know any farmers who farm 5000 acres of land either.  At least, I have never met one. Personally.  But I am told they do exist.  Maybe that is an illusion also?????