EPO vs PPO in a big city with many doctor options

Have the choice between a PPO and EPO at work and kind of understand the gist of them. I know there are many caveats and unknowns for someone to be able to tell me with certainty if my company's EPO or PPO plan is better without specifics, but I'm hoping someone in a similar situation as me can answer, or someone with knowledge can help or point me in the right direction.

If located in a very large city with many hospitals, doctors, etc I wondered if you have an EPO and either regret it or love it? I am leaning toward an EPO as I do have so many options around and I can't imagine I would be limited by in-network doctors for that. I also don't mind driving an hour if need be. I am not worried about the out-of-network stuff as I can't see needing it. I don't travel and am hardly ever far from home. If I am it's another big city and always in the US (or travel insurance if outside the US). Wondering if that ever came back to bite someone for making the same assumption (that living in a big city means there will be many in-network options).

If it helps I have a few medications I need regularly and have to see a few specialists a year, as well as getting an MRI every 6-12 months for monitoring. I will call my HR team and doctors I have/want to see if covered under each, call the insurance company, etc to get more specifics from those sources. Just wondering in general if people living in a big city with tons of options ever have issues with finding an in-network doc their EPO covers?

submitted by /u/MartyIU13
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