I'm in the US and I recently went through the same process. I'm sure other countries have different problems.

Just prior to quitting my job to start my own company, my wife was diagnosed with a health issue. My wife and I were both on the company plan. When we went looking for insurance, she was denied because of her 'pre-existing' issue.

So, we've had to keep her on expensive COBRA until it expires and then there is something after COBRA that we can hopefully switch her to. I hear that there is legislation to prevent insurance companies from denying people coverage if they already have it, but who knows when that'll happen, if ever. I've been able to switch to my own plan, but it still seems really expensive since I very rarely need medical help.

That said, the industry is a mess. The plans are very confusing and definitely directed towards getting the most out of you. No plan is a 'good deal'. The fact that there is three different insurance plans that you need (medical, dental and vision) shows how broken things are. I ended up using a broker who helped explain things a lot. The fact that I needed a broker to explain it is also broken.

Sites like ehealthinsurance.com are massive spammers (try putting your real information in, you'll get phone calls, emails, etc.) and are really no less confusing. It is like they purposely make it hard to figure stuff out by using terminology that nobody else understands and burring it in their website behind forms which ask for your information first. You better figure out what hmo, ppo, copay, coinsurance and deductible mean and how they affect office visits and prescriptions. Then, chart it all out and if you are lucky pick something that seems like what you might need. Once you've got that done, fill out 20 pages of forms with all of your medical history.

Grrr... just thinking about it all makes me so angry. It is such a huge waste.

I was one of those people who, by virtue of working for companies that provided health insurance as a benefit, never had to worry about it... I always simply assumed that it was simply a matter of paying.

Then I got laid off. That in itself was no problem - I simply went on COBRA, and nothing changed about my coverage or anything else, for a few months. Unfortunately my employer was struggling with business issues, and wanted to switch to a different insurer, which did not provide service to my region. They asked if I would seek out private health insurance coverage, and I agreed to.

That's when I learned what health insurance is like for the 20%... Employer-provided (and thus group negotiated) health insurance - what I thought of as "normal" health insurance - is a far cry from what you can get if you're out there on your own. Not only do individual health plans cost more and give you less, they are also hard to get. The underwriters are suspicious of absolutely anything you saw a doctor for, even if it turned out to be nothing, or was subsequently fixed, and they want 10 years of your history to pick over too. I had to go to my most recent doctors and persuade them to send letters to the insurance company explaining that I was cured, or didn't have a case that required surgery, etc.

I'm covered now, but it was kind of a nightmare. And I'm not just healthy, but somewhat well off financially. What must it be like for the rest?

Each and every time I read about the American health care system and the troubles it gives you guys I cant help but cringe! How in the name of all that's right haven't you guys got a national healthcare system yet? You spend so much money (out of your premiums) just lining the pockets of insurance companies and all the bloat that they come with.... you realise in a NHS system 100% of that would go to paying for your treatment, so it actually works out cheaper overall! And that's not even taking into account conditions like cancer or something requiring regular expensive treatments and medicines that are all covered by the NHS over here

(For the uneducated: In the UK ALL hospital/doctors treatments are covered by the NHS, in Wales all medicines and prescriptions are covered by the NHS and in England you pay a maximum of £6.50 (~$10) for any/all medicinal prescriptions regardless of actual cost/value)

Seriously: "America" the only country left in the western world without a national healthcare system....

I have a hunch that the letter writer means "I got fired/forced out", not "I left of my own volition". I wish the blogger had taken some editorial liberty with that line, because my initial reaction was to blame the letter writer for not considering the impact on his family from losing his health insurance. Surely an in-demand executive such as him would 1) have considered this impact and 2) have the means to cover the (admittedly exorbitant) monthly premium?

But I digress. I imagine the HN readership has some experience with individual health plans, since so many of us contract & consult. High-deductible plans are coming into vogue, and I think they're a great idea. The hurdle with them is coming up with that high-deductible (often $10k or more) in the first place.

He can get on a plan that doesn't cover as much. I'm in my 30s and I have a plan through blue cross that's about $100/month and covers emergencies and checkups are $10/$20. The deductible is $3000.

This could cover him until he gets another job.