Very interesting concept. Employees get an allowance for a certain type of plan - something equivalent to what they have now. Then, with that allowance, you go out and pick the insurance plan that you want. So if you are healthy and never go to the doctor, like a lot of young men, you pick a cheap plan that covers nothing and there is almost nothing out of pocket. If you want a Cadillac plan, you pick it, but you pay for it.

No one is every happy with their options and it won't stop the whining, but I like the a la cart aspect of it. Have a peer that switched last year, it was positively received and saved a lot of money for employer and employee. We've looked at it. Here is out it works:

Employer decides what they will cover in terms of premiums
Employee goes out and selects the plan that they want on the state exchange via the provider/coordinator website. The version we looked at gave 600 options (lots of providers and lots of plans).
The invoice comes in to the provider/coordinator and they send a consolidated bill to the company for what their employees enrolled in.
Employer pays a single invoice monthly.
Employee has the amount over the allowance withheld from the paycheck.

I expect more and more employers moving this way, especially since with many company plans, a few large claimants are the result of most of the premium increases. My company can't seem to ever have a good year. It allows employees to pick and pay for exactly what they want.

The other good thing is you don't need COBRA anymore. You are already self enrolled and you could transport it easily from one employer to the next. It would make the comparison between companies very easy because the only difference would be the monthly amount withheld from your paycheck.

Your Broker may not tell you about them as it might put their commission in jeopardy, so you will have to be proactive.