I know next to nothing about the marketplace, I have been reading as much as I can, but every time I search a specific insurer/group by name, I get a litany of horror stories.

I qualify for a special sign up based on losing insurance when I moved, I'd rather pay a little more each month than have an unknown amount I owe at a later date, if that makes sense.

Is there a trick or rhyme or reason to whittling down what options are best? I mean, I have no idea what my usage of the services will be. So I can't really guesstimate there. I could be there every day, or I could go once a year or less, it all depends on what they find and how bad it is.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Edit: To add if it makes a difference, I am Male/43 and I'm going to likely need a full work up to see where I am at health wise. I haven't been to a doctor in 7 years. I have zero doubt there isn't something going on with me health wise, covid did a # on me (even with the vaccine), and I have some lingering other issues that seem to effect my energy and feeling good any given day.

I'm in a bit of a frustrating situation with my Marketplace Plan.

In the past, I used to work for a large corporation that gave me health insurance for a great rate. Anytime I wanted to book an appointment, I never had any problems doing so. Basically, every doctor I needed to see would take the insurance.

Now, I have transitioned into being self-employed. One of the downsides of doing so is having to find and pay full price for your health insurance. I have been buying the insurance from Marketplace the past few years, which honestly is pretty expensive. When I was working for the large corporation, I was paying about $80 a month. Now that I am self employed, I am paying $480 a month.

The price is a hard pill to swallow, but honestly that is not even the main problem. The MAIN problem is that anytime I try to make an appointment with any doctor, they will say "Oh, we take your plan carrier (for example, BCBS, aetnta, UHC), but we don't take the 'Marketplace' Plan."

Honestly, aside from me being frustrated and feeling like I am spending 5x more money to not be able to be seen by any provider, I am also desperate to find an option that will not put me in this position ever again.

Basically, I never want to buy a plan from the Marketplace EVER again. Is this possible? Or do I have to be employed with a corporation again to get health insurance that will actually be accepted?

I realize it might be too late to get a health insurance plan for this year. However, for 2026, I would like to prepare and have a plan lined up so I can get adequate healthcare coverage.