This is second hand. The wife of a friend of a friend decided to hold off on elective surgery because of the family deductible being $14K. They are close to Medicare age so she will just hobble along until she is eligble for Medicare. They live in Illinois and are going to get clobbered with premium increases if they pay full fare. If they get hit with a 40% increase in premiums, they will pay about $18K in premiums for bronze coverage.
My premiums for a cheap bronze plan are over $5000 a year.
A welfare recipient gets a plan 7 levels higher for free with no deductible or cost.
I need a piece of bone growing into my Achilles removed by surgery. That’s another $6500.
So individual costs a lot.