[tptacek]

Calling insurers and buying directly is potentially cheaper, because those insurers aren't selling marketplace plans --- the marketplace plans have guaranteed-issue requirements, and must conform to minimum standards that off-marketplace plans do not.

The downside is that if you have anything interesting on your medical history --- including many things in your past that aren't chronic conditions, but could be predictive of future health care costs in some circumstances --- you will be turned down without recourse. That's the problem with the pre-Obamacare individual health care market: it didn't work.