Even Obamacare for someone making under 20k is about $300+ per month

I'm paying $250/month through my job for me and my kid. Husband pays another $130 for his. And it is shitty insurance with a high deductible.

I was looking for my family and it was about $950/month for the insurance alone. That was for a low out of pocket deductible and 100% coverage after the deductible was met. $5000 for the family. So you pay $950/mo plus $5000 per year. Part of the “employee package” when you work for someone is what kind of insurance they offer. That way the employer will usually pay for the employee and then you as the employee only have to pay for the additional family members. Lowering it closer to $400-500/mo. You are also limited to which doctors and hospitals will take your insurance, so look into that too.

Health insurance is a scam. You can tell any provider you're uninsured and paying in cash. You'll get a discount of 60-75%.

Prescription drugs are "free" with your copay (typically $100). Meaning you only pay the first $100 of the cost. Great deal right? Except you can go to Costco and get the same drug for $40.

The healthcare providers and insurance companies illegally collude to set prices at 3-4 times actual cost. This makes people think they need insurance because everything is so expensive. However insurance companies only pay the actual cost. The fake price is eliminated in what's called an "adjustment" here's a sample bill.

https://pic8.co/sh/QGz9WK.png

What's an adjustment? Well it just means that was the inflated price that no one is going to pay. You can negotiate the same price, but most American's don't know they can negotiate prices for anything other than cars and houses.

I've never had health insurance. Checkups and cleanings cost $50-$100. Which I pay once or twice a year. Dealing with a broken leg or whatever might run me $10k, but I've saved so much over the years of being uninsured I can afford dozens of such issues. If I have an issue which would bankrupt me it's almost certainly going to be fatal and they can't come after your family for medical bills you incurred.

The only time medical insurance makes sense is if you are very old or have a known condition. These things, or course, make getting insurance almost impossible.

If you buy private health insurance, it depends a lot on the state. Insurance rates are approved at the state level, not federal. Yeah it's weird.

You can shop around before you move, but it takes a lot of time and effort. And you have to check with doctors to see what insurance they accept. A plan might be cheap, but you could be limited to a few doctors that have long wait lists. It isn't easy, but the alternative is a real pain.

Pretty much anywhere in the US though I'd plan for a minimum of $10K per year for insurance for a family, to cover premiums and deductibles. Probably closer to $20K to be safe and have better than shitty insurance. If no one gets sick, you might not pay out any deductibles though.

Most Americans don't know what their health care costs, because it is included in their employment benefits or provided by the state. I don't know because our health benefits come from my wife's job, where she's covered with no out of pocket, and the out of pocket to add me is around $125/mo. If I covered us both at my job, it would be about $300/mo out of pocket, or $200 for just me. This is all the out-of-pocket cost, not the ACTUAL cost including what the employer pays and applies to your headcount.

If you are worried about it, you can get Traveler's Insurance pretty cheaply. It will get you health coverage while you are here, and also cover things like your costs if you trip gets cancelled.

It is illegal in the US for a hospital to turn you away with a potentially life-threatening or crippling condition. If you end up in the hospital, they might try to send you a $50K bill, but there is no way for them to collect it once you are back in Canada, and not much of a way to collect it if you were American, which is one of the reasons the "price" is so high -- they have to account for all the people who pay zero.

According to what I can find, the average US premium is just under $400/mo, with $1200/mo for a family of four.

$300 per month for my spouse and I (through an employer) Similar prices when I looked into public plans. Some are based on your income, so it really depends.

Your cheapest way to get insurance in the US is to work for a large corporation as a professional. A large corporation will have good insurance that will pay most everything, a lesser corporation will have a 70%/30% or 80%/20% plan.

$400 per month for family health care through my employer and a $3,000 deductible per person. I basically pay every bill until deductible is met, then insurance pays 100%.

Most plans have a lifetime limit, a million or so. A friend was severely injured in an auto accident, blew through the million deductible in 6 months, then had to go on Medicaid.

Also, health care covers 1 trip to rehab so it better work! Medicaid, unlimited trips to rehab.