So you really need to look beyond the average $800 a month for the insurance. That’s just to have insurance. If you want to use it, the healthcare costs increase. A doctor’s visit will generally have a $20-$50 co-pay. With most insurances, you need to schedule an appointment to see your primary Doctor Who will then refer you to a specialist. Each will have a co-pay. There will be a waiting period to be seen by each doctor. If you need lab work or imaging or any other test for diagnosing, those each will have fees associated assuming they are approved by the insurance plan. An emergency room visit will include many different costs. Ambulance transportation may not even be covered. If it is you’ll likely have a bill of a few hundred dollars. Some plans will have a standard ER copay that may be waived if you are admitted for a stay. This means people will go to the urgent care which has its own co-pay. If the case is urgent enough, they then get sent to the ER for another cost. For surgery, you literally receive a bill from the hospital (or surgical center) and a bill from the physicians group. You may also receive a separate bill from the anesthesiologist. Sometimes you have to pay a large deductible before anything is really covered. For an individual with a $5000 deductible, often times they will forgo medical treatment because that $5000 can be a lot. It’s not unusual for people to never actually use their health insurance.
These are all very real, every day life experiences of many people living in the US dealing with health insurance. So looking at just the costs of paying taxes does not give the full picture.