Of course, that's an average covering every man, woman,
  child, pensioner etc. People in paid employment are 
  paying at least double that (in tax). 

That $10,000/yr is just the monthly insurance premium. The patient still has to pay for things out of pocket. Because his premium is so high, I'm guessing GP has a very high deductible, eg $5,000, which is paid out of pocket. Then there's the copays, scripts, and misc fees.

I currently have awesome coverage (by USA standards) and still have to pay ~20% of visit out of pocket.

Actually, that last part I'm guessing. Because of the back and forth game played between insurers and providers, I get confused, and haven't expended the effort to figure out the actual monies exchanged.