I wonder if your employer sponsored plan is not ACA compliant.

Health insurance has a 2% profit margin, and premiums are tightly regulated by state insurance commissioners. So a wildly different premium indicates a change in coverage, or a change in the underlying risk pool.

For an annual out of pocket maximum of $10k to $18k and age rating factors capping age 64 premiums to 3x age 21, the minimum bronze/silver monthly premium should be somewhere in the ~$400 to $1,200 depending on age. For example, see NJ’s premiums here:

https://www.nj.gov/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcrates20...

This is very informative. I am investigating. Thank you!

You're probably not reading this, but I didn't include what I pay out of pocket to 12d DD ... turns out it is MORE than than the most expensive ACA plan, but I have way more coverage at my job. E.g., I can go out of network, where the ACA plans do not allow that; and the deductibles are less than 1/3 of the lowest deductibles on the ACA. Thanks for that nudge.

Where did you get that 2% profit thing? I've been googling for that too and insurance profits and all I can find is that ACA only allows 20% admin costs. Non ACA plans indicate that their profit is ~15-20% of their revenue.

Search UNH/Elevance/CVS/Cigna/Humama/Molina/Centene profit margins on macrotrends.

These are all publicly listed health insurers, so all their financials are public. It is not a very profitable business, as pretty much all insurance business.