Last I checked there were two companies offering insurance to individuals in my state—yes, two, yes, I'm serious, no, not just on the marketplace, there were no other providers who will take individual customers period, yes, I checked a lot and was repeatedly told, explicitly, by people who ought to know, that those were the only two options and other insurers had pulled out entirely from offering individual plans in this state.
Both would only cover one of the four nearest major hospitals to me (though they did differ in which one it was) and only one of the two covered the huge local children's hospital that's also bought up nearly all the independent pediatrician's offices and pediatric urgent cares in the entire city, so if you have kids you actually only have one "option".
So much for the bounty of choice we preserved by not just going single-payer.
The plans in my state that you can buy on the open market are the same plans offered to local companies and the government for employer subsidized health care.
There might be some states where the marketplace has nothing good in it, often because that state's governor was so ideologically driven they refused free money from the feds to expand medicare style systems. American health care is HUGELY state to state, largely depending on how willing a governor is to actually help their constituents instead of virtue signalling.
I’ve never had that issue, or even heard of that issue, but I’ve only bought insurance from relatively large insurance companies, maybe it’s an issue if you try to save money by going with a small one with no network.
I've had good and bad experiences. One thing I learned the hard way is that even as a young person with low healthcare costs, it's a very bad idea to just choose the cheapest plan without doing any research.
Some of the low cost companies are essentially scams: most of the "providers" they list on their site will not actually accept the plan; if you do have any medical costs, they will do everything possible to avoid paying even when you are clearly covered; you'll wait for hours on hold to talk to support, then they will be rude and unhelpful; etc. etc.
It's well worth paying an extra hundred or so per month for a reputable provider so that you at least have actual functional health insurance.
Not in my experience. On east and west coasts, there are at least a couple widely accepted insurance plans available. A BCBS affiliate, a vertically integrated one like Kaiser or Providence, and other insurers offering PPO plans like UHC/Aetna/Cigna/Humana/etc.
You don't really have a choice if nobody where you live will take your insurance...