Government now pays for nearly half of all health care in the U.S.
The average family making COBRA premium payments (after getting canned, for you Brits, you have a right to take over those employer sponsored premiums for 18 months - and a lot longer in California)pays $1,078 per month.
http://www.kff.org/uninsured/7875.cfm
The average monthly premium for an individually purchased policy was $217.75 for one person and $483.25 for a family in 2007.