Ask HN: How do US HNers get their health insurance?

I'm from the UK and am engaged to a US citizen. A month and a half ago she lost her job, and health insurance, and since then I've been helping her through some sort of Kafka-esque nightmare regarding that. She's decided for now to use COBRA, under which she can continue with her old employer's coverage. It took about 3 weeks for the paperwork for that to come through, which we returned immediately, and we're now being told that once the payment comes through, it'll take a week and a half for the coverage to restart. So all in all, it looks like my fiancee is going to have spent over a month without health coverage. While once the coverage restarts, it'll be backdated to the 1st September (so she can claim for any out of pocket expenses she incurred), it seems crazy that for the last month any sort of serious health issue could have financially ruined her.

The plan is to move to the US post marriage. This whole ordeal has put me off the idea of getting health insurance through an employer - I certainly don't want to spend time uninsured on the offchance I lose my job for whatever reason - not least because sods law states that that's the point that I'll get hit by a bus or some such. How many American HNers pay for their health insurance themselves? If you're working for someone who generally offers health insurance, but you choose not to take it, is there ever any scope for persuading them to contribute some money to your personal costs?

Got a part D plan.

Private insurance covers more, but the monthly cost of Medicare is cheaper. Your private insurance costs more per month, than Medicare, but covers more things.

Medicare for example has a doughnut hole for prescriptions and if you reach it, you aren't covered until you spend $3500 of your own money to get out of the hole on prescriptions. It used to just be for name brands but ACA added in new holes for generics. My medicine that is generic is $370/month until I am out of that doughnut hole.

http://www.goodrx.com/

That website gave me a discount code that got my medicine down to $112/month instead. I'd recommend it for anyone having price issues with their medication.

I signed up for Covered California, which is subsidized insurance. My husband (non-US citizen, but perm resident) is part of my plan. This depends on what state you live in. Some states rejected the federal healthcare funds.

As for employer contributions, it depends on the employer -- I offer my employees insurance. If they choose NOT to take it, I don't give them a pay bump -- the cost per employee is negligible, and insurance is not offered in lieu of higher pay here. The purpose of me buying insurance for employees is mostly to ensure they're healthy while working for us, and getting care so as not to sicken others while on the job.

I've been buying my own insurance since reaching adulthood. Before the federal exchange, I typically found personal plans through http://eHealthInsurance.com, though they have less selection now than before the exchange. I think some insurers in states with an exchange pulled out of the private comparison sites like this.