I do not think there are any price savings by not going thru a broker (or AARP in my case). You do have to be a member of AARP - or eligible to join - for the plan I got. A different Aetna plan was available that was almost identical, and with a cheaper premium - only difference (I think) was the annual cap. AARP-Aetna plan was $7500 annual cap, and the non-AARP-Aetna plan had an annual cap of $12,500. I felt more comfortable with the $7,500 annual cap - I have over 4 years to go until Medicare - might have felt differently had I been 63 or 64.
I think you need to look at both worst-case scenarios (what would I pay if I developed x condition) and also at what your typical medical scenario is and figure out what you can best live with.
I typically only see a doctor yearly for a physical (although I put this off for almost an extra year knowing I would be shopping for private health-care - another risk, true, but an acceptable one to me since I wasn't noticing anything unusual about my health), and maybe one other time for an injury or acute illness such as sinusitis or tendonitis, and usually a dermatologist visit. My policy now covers me at a $40 co-pay for a GP and a $50 co-pay for a specialist - annual physical has no co-pay. Also, with this policy, I am covered for the Shingles vaccine, which I got in July. My Cobra policy did not cover this, and it's an expensive vaccine. Flu shots are covered (need to get that now).
Mine is not an HSA policy - the HSA policies I looked at did not have co-pays. Office visits would have to have been paid (at the insurance rate) out of pocket. Knowing myself, I knew I would be more hesitant to seek treatment if I had to pay the whole visit cost out of pocket, especially to specialists. A friend of mine much prefers her HSA plan. Your particular tax situation might sway you one way or the other.
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