> Sometimes people look at the "nominal" cost of catastrophic insurance or their partial contribution as an employee and extrapolate - but that doesn't work whe

> Sometimes people look at the "nominal" cost of catastrophic insurance or their partial contribution as an employee and extrapolate - but that doesn't work when you're fending for yourself. Another wrinkle with the "what do I need to pay for the equivalent of this without an employer", in my state, is that only two providers—both ones I'd never heard of before—offer individual insurance plans at all. The others do not deal in them any more, period. Call them and ask, that's what they'll tell you. Call an insurance broker and ask, that's what they'll tell you. "No, zero providers aside from the two on the exchange offer individual plans in this state now". IOW, it is impossible to pay for an individual plan as good as even mediocre employer-provided plans in my state. For one thing, both exchange providers have far worse networks (lists of specific healthcare providers for which the insurance applies, for non-USians) than even some pretty terrible employer plans I've been on before. They're also worse value for the money, even factoring in the full cost (as one might with, for example, COBRA) even if their networks were as good.