For reference, I pay about ~$200 Australian to my personal insurance, which is a pretty generous plan with lots of extras, basic health care such has visiting a doctor for prescriptions, etc... I haven't paid a dollar for in 3 years, before that I used to pay $20 for convenience of a clinic that was open late and they didn't bill the government for the entire cost, which is common, but almost always a reasonably small fee in the multiples of $20 depending on how long you spend with the doctor. I paid this when I was a government employee, a private employee contracted to the government, and I continued to pay it when I quit to become a freelance developer, my cover has nothing to do with my job and I cannot even fathom why in the most awful circles of hell I would want my health care tied to my job. Hence my trepidation at ever subjecting myself to the American health care system.
I know I might have good options for my therapy in US, but the risks are just too big and depending where you are the monthly expenses only for the insulin analogs might be just way too much in the worst case.
Fun fact: A lot of the original Star Trek screenplays were written with [tech] everywhere and the science writers came in and tried to right some jargon that was believable.
In regards to health care, it's a mess. I spent years working in the industry and it's truly a little frightening. I've been in other country's systems before and recently put together a writeup on it:
http://fightthefuture.org/article/returning-to-america-and-t...