To get a true idea of what your costs will be under each plan, you need to look at how much you will pay for your premium and other costs. A single hospital stay for a serious condition could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can't know in advance what your health care needs for the coming year will be. But you can guess what services you and your family might need. Figure out what the total costs to your family would be for these services under each plan.
Quality is hard to measure, but more and more information is becoming available.
There are certain things you can look for and questions you can ask. Whatever kind of plan you are considering, you can check out individual doctors and hospitals. Many managed care plans are regulated by Federal and State agencies. Indemnity plans are regulated by State insurance commissions. Your State Department of Health or insurance commission can tell you about any plan you are interested in.