Anyone out there that can offer up good/bad experiences on what health care plan to choose from using the government website?
Single person under 40 years old, no dependants. Pretty good health.

Also heard that you can go right to an insurance company and buy your coverage.

Wondering the pro/con of either direction.

when purchasing my SS supplement plan every year, i go see a lady at the local insurance office who helps me decide what is my best choice of what is out there.
it sure beats doing it on your own !
she has access to everything that's available out there, including government web site plans.
it may be a good idea to check with a local agent to see what would work best for you.
all you will be out is your time.

The wife and I are both retired from Chrysler.. I was union and she was management.. we have BCBS and
no other stuff.. it does VERY well for both of us.. she is under my policy

If you want help paying the premium, you have to go through healthcare.gov, which only has open enrollment at the end of the year, or if you've had a "major life change". It was requested that it be opened up again with the virus and 10 million people losing their jobs and their insurance, but it was denied

Otherwise, if you want to pay the entire premium, I think you can go to any health insurance provider and sign up?

Depending on your reported income, you may be one of many people stuck in the middle.

Being able to get help from Obamacare and the amount of that help depends on income. Make too much and they won't pitch in very much or not at all. Or the deductible will be so high, there's no sense in even participating. Working poor people can get substantial help with good policies and little out of pocket. Really poor people end up with Medicaid at the state level.

On the other side is people with jobs that provide decent insurance for little or no cost or they can afford big premiums and/or deductibles.

People stuck in the middle - small business owners, working people who aren't make 75-100k a year - have to decide if they can afford insurance. Or if they want to take their chances and not give a substantial percentage of their income to an insurance company.

Sucks. I remember when I could get catastrophic insurance for a decent premium and a deductible that was realistic.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Yes a major life change is coming for this person so it looks like getting the insurance won’t be a problem.

Just trying to see what makes the most sense at this point.

Looks like COBRA may be real expensive at this point, so trying to go from what the person has right now and not use COBRA in the interim.

plans bought on the health exchange must provide "essential benefits" and other clauses like no caps on annual/lifetime payout and all the other benefits of the ACA, (Obamacare). Plans bought on the open market do not. BIG difference between the two.

Very good point. If a plan not on the exchange is "cheap", it probably doesn't cover much of anything, or has an incredibly low total payout limit. Make sure you know exactly what the details are before signing up.

Very good info - thanks.