It's generally not that much money if you're single. Where it's really awful is when you have a family with kids; even with employer-based insurance, the out-of-pocket costs are very, very high. The employer will cover a lot of your insurance cost if you're single, but not so much for the rest of your family.

The US is a good place to make a lot of money if you're a single tech worker and can live cheaply and save, but it's not a good place to raise a family at all.