# Who is buying their own health insurance? How much are you paying?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-buying-their-own-health-insurance-how-much-are-you-paying/803459>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 3, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-buying-their-own-health-insurance-how-much-are-you-paying/803459 "2017-12-03T16:24:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-buying-their-own-health-insurance-how-much-are-you-paying/803459/21 "2017-12-04T15:23:29Z")

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I do not know. My business manager handles it, and she knows that if she tells me I get pissed off.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-buying-their-own-health-insurance-how-much-are-you-paying/803459/22 "2017-12-04T18:09:47Z")

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> [@Athena](#):
>
> As much as I agree with you on ACA not being the cause of the price increases, I can’t agree on what you say about health insurance being unaffordable for individuals since the 1980s. Mr. Athena and I were self-employed from about 2002 to 2013 or so, and bought our own insurance. Expensive? Hell yes. Premiums go up 50-100% every year? You bet. Unaffordable? Nope. I guess had we stayed on that plan long enough it would have become very, very pricey, but during the time I was on it it was not unaffordable.

Expensive, with premiums going up as much as 100% per year, but not unaffordable?

Congratulations on you and your husband’s successful careers.

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-buying-their-own-health-insurance-how-much-are-you-paying/803459/23 "2017-12-04T19:18:28Z")

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> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Expensive, with premiums going up as much as 100% per year, but not unaffordable?
> 
> Congratulations on you and your husband’s successful careers.

I didn’t say I LIKED it, especially when it was edging towards taking up 10%+ of our gross income. But that’s not saying it was unaffordable. “Unaffordable” to me means “you’re picking between paying the mortgage, buying food, or paying the health insurance bill.” We never got to that point.

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