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Here in MA we're running the 0.5 beta of health care reform, and the absolute best PPO refer-yourself-anywhere no-claim-denied coverage was $350/mo in 2010. There were high-deductible HMOs for a third that.

It's actually more of an issue for me now, working for someone else's startup, since I'm eligible for group coverage at work and therefore no longer eligible for the great individual coverage plans.

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It would be interesting to hear more about how the MA plan is or isn't working. It's been such a political hot potato.

Unfortunately, all I have is n=1 anecdotes. As I'm fond of saying, we have no newspapers here, so it's hard to get data!

But I liked the state-mandated individual plan enough that I've told our CFO we'd be better served by having no health coverage. With only 10 employees, we don't qualify for anything but a low-tier HMO, and apparently risk pooling (i.e. business-association group plans) is no longer allowed in MA.

I think the individual plans might be a worse deal for families, though, which is of course a big consideration - I have no dependents.

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