I hope you are correct.
I talked again to someone at Verizon today and they said that the iPhone 6 doesn't give you any options other than paying more money to Verizon for hotspot functionality. If you want to get a hotspot without paying for it, the Verizon sales rep said I should get an Android phone. The truth is, Verizon did the same thing with my Galaxy S3, but 3rd party apps from the Play store can resolve that. But since Apple does not allow apps in the app store to enable your wifi hotspot, you are forced to pay Verizon for the additional data so that the the hotspot would be enabled on an iPhone if it isn't working. I know my coworker with an iPhone 5 on Verizon & a 2GB plan can use the hotspot no problem, so I'm not sure how accurate the answer of the Verizon sales associate was. He is running iOS 7, so I can't help but wonder if that matters.
As most of you already know, Verizon allows you to use 3rd party apps for hotspot, so jailbreaking is another option until Apple allows such apps on the app store. Unfortunately, jailbreaking causes problems with Apple. While jailbreaking made my 3G much more usable back in the day, it is a hassle and iOS has improved a lot since then such that I no longer see the need. When I talked with a few people in the Apple store, they washed their hands of the hotspot problem (I was also at their store today) by saying that Verizon is responsible for the Verizon versions of the phone. Basically, no one wants to take responsibility, but the key to all of this is that the App Store does not allow apps that get the hotspot to work, though Verizon has no objections to such apps. It is possible that Apple could change such a policy, but I haven't heard any plans to do so.
It would be interesting to hear if the OP gets this resolved. Based on the information I can get from Verizon and Apple, it seems that Verizon is not going to help you get the hotspot unless you give them $20/month, and Apple isn't going to help you by allowing apps on the app store to allow you to get the most out of your phone. Hopefully, what Alfred said is correct and this can get resolved. These are the kinds of things you really need to resolve before purchasing. If you really need a hotspot, you might be best off trading the phone in for an Android device since Google Play has multiple apps that Verizon has said subscribers of metered plans are free to use to enable hotspot usage
I believe AT&T and Apple don't have the same setup based on the guy in the Apple store said that he had a basic 2gb plan and his hotspot worked. If there is still a chance for you to change carriers, that could help. Too bad all of this information isn't more readily accessible to consumers.