You can still get a nationwide PPO in Delaware through me. Here is how a Wilmington compliance consultant with lumpy contract income re-picks her plan for 2027 without a surprise at tax time.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber, a health insurance broker with licenses in 36 states. Plenty of my clients are paid on 1099s, and Delawareans can work through this with me by phone.
The contractor I have in mind spent a decade in compliance at a bank on the Wilmington riverfront. Now she consults on her own: anti-money-laundering reviews, policy rewrites and exam prep for banks and corporate-services firms around Rodney Square and up Route 202. Her contracts run three to nine months, and sometimes two overlap while sometimes there's a gap. Last fall she picked the least expensive silver plan on HealthCare.gov, which was an EPO. This fall she has two problems: that company won't be selling next year, and her income estimate for this year was too low.
Delaware's 2026 marketplace is one list for the whole state: 40 individual medical plans from three insurers. One company sells all 17 EPOs, one all 15 PPOs and one all 8 HMOs. Price the bottom silver plan of each type for a 40-year-old, no credit applied, and the EPO is lowest, the HMO sits in the middle, and the PPO is highest: 6% over the HMO and 18% over the EPO.
A privately underwritten nationwide PPO is also still available to Delawareans through me. For a consultant who takes meetings in Philadelphia, New York or Charlotte, its network goes where the work does.
The Delaware Department of Insurance's 2027 rate announcement lists approved marketplace rates for two insurance companies, with average increases of 17.20% and 13.94%. Missing from it: the company behind all of 2026's EPOs. If you're on one of those EPOs, you'll be choosing between the remaining HMO and PPO companies at open enrollment, and both will cost more than last year's sticker.
An EPO and an HMO generally pay only in network, emergencies aside. A PPO pays for providers outside its network too, at an additional cost to you.
That's the more urgent fix. HealthCare.gov expects you to update your income estimate when it changes. Any credit paid in advance beyond what your final income allows gets settled on your tax return, and for tax years after 2025 nothing caps what you repay. Log in and raise the estimate now, so the remaining months are priced right.
If the corrected number puts you above four times the poverty line, the credit stops entirely. Then compare full marketplace prices with a private nationwide PPO. The insurer looks at your health history and approves, approves leaving out one condition, or declines. Consultants in good health frequently beat the marketplace's full sticker. I'll go through benefits plan by plan before you choose.
Next step: Send me what your contracts have paid so far and what's signed through December, and I'll show you where your estimate should be.
When a realistic 2027 figure sits inside the 100% to 400% band, you qualify for help, and buying through HealthCare.gov generally wins on price. With the EPO company gone, the choice is HMO or PPO. In 2026 the silver PPO ran 6% above the silver HMO. Doctors in Wilmington and Newark who take the HMO make it the stronger value once the credit is applied. A Philadelphia specialist outside that network is the main reason to pay up for the PPO.
Next step: Send me your doctors and a 2027 income estimate, and once the 2027 plans post I'll price the HMO and PPO after the credit.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
The company that sold every 2026 EPO isn't on the Insurance Department's 2027 rate list, so plan on choosing a new plan this fall.
Extra credit paid in advance is repaid on your tax return, and for tax years after 2025 there's no cap.
In 2026, at silver, the EPO, then the HMO; the PPO is 18% above the EPO and 6% above the HMO.
Yes. Healthy contractors can get one from me as a private plan, separate from the marketplace.
Tell me the plan you're on now, who's on your policy, and what your contracts have paid so far this year and are likely to pay next. I'll show you the 2027 options after the credit and a private nationwide PPO.
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