It is expensive but salaries are also higher. Most people pay a few hundred at max per month on several thousand dollars of salary.

I am not sure what you mean by saying "constitutes the bulk of benefits in the US"

https://www.statista.com/statistics/631987/percent-of-income...

Do you mean outside of plain salary, medical benefits are the highest?

I think that may be more correct.

But even that may not be universally true. For folks in software, at least matching retirement benefits will outweigh medical benefits