They are not the same plans. Most employer plans are not available to the individual market. The marketplace plans often have vastly reduced networks, higher premiums, higher deductibles, etc.

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lotsofpulp 3 days ago | parent [-]

Most are, as ACA compliant plans have metal levels that are based on the expected annual costs that the plan covers.

A silver plan an employer subsidizes is similar to a silver plan from healthcare.gov (expect plan to pay 70% and insured to pay 30%).

https://www.healthcare.gov/choose-a-plan/plans-categories/

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dml2135 3 days ago | parent [-]

But that means nothing if you can't find a doctor -- these plans have paltry networks.

They are better than nothing if you qualify for a subsidy, but if you don't and you live in a HCOL area (which the subsidies are not adjusted for) you are pretty much screwed.

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lotsofpulp 3 days ago | parent [-]

They sell the same networks in my experience (west and northeast coast).

The MCOs are not carving out different networks for specific employers. You buy a bronze PPO from United Health directly, or your employer does, it’s going to be all the same providers. If you get gold, then the deductibles/copay will be less.

The networks used to be different when HMOs were in vogue, but if your employer is only giving you an HMO option, you need to find a different employer. PPOs are the only sensible option (except maybe Kaiser on the west coast, but even they sell PPOs, just costs more to see a non Kaiser provider).

	▲	dml2135 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		This was not my experience on the NY exchange but that was several years ago at this point. So I guess it's possible that things improved.