Medical insurance- am I being ripped off??

[RStar]

I have Blue Shield from work. A small company of about 40-50 people. I'm over 50, and have my wife on the insurance. I have the HMO 15 plan which has good coverage. Every year it goes up by hundreds a month, and now this year I will start to pay a whopping $1,307 per month if I don't take a lesser plan! And with my wife's health, paying less premiums and more copays may not work at all. With this last 23% increase I won't be able to make it. Do I choose a roof over my head, food on my table, or medical insurance? This is insane!

So, is there anyone else experiencing this? Is our insurance broker ripping us off? He says he can't find anything cheeper, and everyone is experiencing this. Yet I talked to someone who has similar coverage and a similar size company paying half that. Why?