I've been in your shoes and I empathize. In fact, I was in your shoes just a few days ago when I applied for insurance. The rates here are "representative" and I tried to add disclaimers in the obvious places. The rates are similar to what you see if you check with your state's insurance commissioner. Most states require the health insurance companies to publicly disclose those rates.

Of course, they can still mess with you and they won't hesitate to do so if they think they can't make money at this price. There's no way to find out the final rate without completing the entire application process. In that respect it's similar to auto insurance.

PickHealthInsurance still has a lot of utility compared to existing sites, though.

You can get often get the advertised rates, but not always. In Washington State for example, you can get these rates if you're running out of COBRA and you've been covered continuously. They aren't allowed to ask questions.

I don't think there's a magic bullet, unfortunately. Suggestions welcome.