My spouse works for PPO insurer and has worked for Aetna, and she always jump on my Kaiser plan if I work for an employer that offers it. Her coworkers often do the same.
All healthcare in the US is embarrassingly bad, but Kaiser often does cover more and charges less than comparable PPO plans. Problem is, navigating it can be tricky if you’re used to PPO life.
We’re with Aetna right now. We fucking hate it. The love to force out of pocket payments for preventative care. Aetna rather you just hury up and die so they don’t have to pay for you.
The limited of out-of-network coverage is kind of the point of Kaiser. There are some times that they’ll do it if they’ve understaffed in a specialist’s area, if it’s emergency / trauma care, etc. But the main point is to try to keep things within the non-profit network, and to limit the cost creep imposed by the for-profit healthcare providers.
As for out-of-pocket, that really depends on the plan you’re buying or your employer is negotiating. When I was picking a Kaiser plan, I was usually choosing between similar PPO offerings with comparable out-of-pocket.
My wife and I, and many of her insurance coworkers, have found that the PPO plans often hide the costs. It looks good on paper at first, but the TOS about what is and isn’t covered can often be much more profit-driven in the PPO space. And you often don’t learn about these details until you need care or a medication.