It's not THAT expensive. I'm as small a business as you can get: 1 employee...me.
I just switched policies this month. $248/mo for a full policy, Blue Cross. It's doable if one wants to.
I think many people aren’t able to get one that low, that really covers up to the high amounts that a major brain trauma costs, and if anyone in the family has any pre-existing chronic conditions, the sky’s the limit. As of 2-3 years ago, my very large employer was paying $6000 per year per employee. Granted we have a choice of excellent plans, and I’m pretty sure that figure is the average per employee including dependents. But I doubt more than half our employees have a spouse and 2 children on their plans — many are young and/or otherwise single, many are married with no children yet, many have spouses who work and have their own coverage, and many have children who are grown and no longer on their parents’ policies.