A lot of the problem nowadays I think is the economy and companies that offer insurance aren't able to pay as much for the employees as they might have before.

I joined my company in 1998 and the company paid like half the premium, etc. but then lost a lot of business so when the insurance got renegotiated upping premiums/lowering what's offered because there were fewer employees so a greater chance that a greater percentage would make claims in any one year and the raised prices in addition to the company not having as much business meant they didn't pick up as large a percentage of the tab so it gets passed on to the employee as higher premiums for less coverage. The last year I was there, there were the 3 choices and they were horrible, especially for the poor lower ranking engineers who were insuring their family; one guy's family coverage was like a quarter or third of his salary and was arranged so he had to insure himself if he wanted to insure his kids, etc., couldn't get cheaper just for them since he was the employee. Was just structured at a disadvantage. I can't imagine what it is now that they've moved and downsized even more drastically. When I started there, there were like 180 employees and now I think there are probably 20-25.

I was fortunate and was working just for the $800 a month to pay my therapist out-of-pocket, the 401K plan, the best insurance they offered no matter what cost for my other possible health needs (my husband, meanwhile, had gotten a job with health insurance so I only had to insure myself) and they knew I didn't "need" to work so the owner/bosses had no hold over me. That was good for them too because I'd tell them what they didn't want to hear but needed to, had no issues/reasons to try to "get" at them since I didn't need them/had no bones to pick, and wasn't afraid of getting fired or anything, so they could trust what I had to say :-)