Why are health insurance costs so wildly different?

tl;dr – what good is a bronze plan vs a platinum plan when it comes to insurance?

I recently left a gov't job with a "fancy" BCBS health insurance plan. For my wife and I, it was like $175 a week, and the gov't covered the other 75%. When I got my COBRA form, they offered me continued coverage for something insane like $25,000+ (half my salary).

We live in Massachusetts. We just applied for health care coverage through MA Health Connector, and got insurance for $300 a month for the two of us. Prescriptions, appointments, urgent care, emergency visits, etc all seem to be identical or practically the same as my wicked expensive BCBS insurance I had through the gov't.

I am a bit confused as to why the marketplace has so many different options? Are we screwing ourselves by going with such an "inexpensive" option? The woman with MA Health Connect was incredibly helpful and patient, and she seemed confident we were getting the coverage we needed.

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submitted by /u/hestiacat
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