My ex-husband pays $1200 a month for our insurance that covers the two of us and our 2 children. That's a no-deductible, PPO plan with $15 co-pays for office visits and $16 co-pay for prescriptions. If I didn't have cancer, it would be far better to pay out of pocket for doctor's visits--even pain clinic visits and even expensive tests (as they are done so infrequently) and carry only hospitalization insurance.

Because he is self-employed, we pay the entire premium for our health insurance. The next time somebody whines about how much their health insurance premiums are through their employer, please remember that those of us who work for ourselves are paying a whole lot more.

Our mortgage payment is less than our health insurance premiums! That's just plain sick!

I know for a fact that until I underwent treatment for my lymphosarcoma, we never even came close to using $14,000 in medical expenses each year (the total annual cost for our health insurance premiums.)