How is this even possible. I worked for a company for 10yrs. My employer covered my health insurance and I had to pay for my kids. He took $968/month out of my check for my kids. I went self employed Jan 1st of this year. I called into the same company to get insurance for me and my kids. It cost me $655/month.
My wife gets her insurance thru employer and they pay 100% of hers. We looked at getting me and the kids put on her plan. They were going to take $2100/month out of her check.
No clue to what extent kids change it but I buy a quite decent plan for under $600 per month for me and my wife. Slightly worse plan through my employer costs double.
On a similar note I wanted a CAC scan this year, my insurance likely would not cover it because I am not old enough. Had they submitted it and I got denied out of pocket would have been $1400 (reflecting what they would have billed insurance) but cash price was around $125. I also have a prescription that I can pay about $10 cash for but if submitted through insurance they bill them over $100 and I pay a $20 copay. My pharmacy cant sell it to me cash because they know I have insurance so it violates their distribution agreement so I had it sent to another pharmacy where I dont have insurance on file and pay cash. Its all a goofy system.