You can still get a nationwide PPO in Florida. Here is how people paid on a 1099 are working through a costlier marketplace, a thin PPO shelf, and the hole under a bad year.
Hi, I'm Sam. I'm a Tampa-based health insurance broker, and I help people who work for themselves on a 1099. I'm licensed in 36 states, I do it all by phone, and Florida is home.
If you're a Florida contractor, the general advice you read online is only half the story. Three things got harder here this year. Full prices went up sharply. The marketplace's PPO costs far more than its other plans. And the state has no Medicaid expansion underneath people whose income falls very low. Each one matters to someone whose pay arrives one invoice at a time.
Here's the part most contractors don't expect: you can still get a nationwide PPO in Florida, through me, and if you're healthy the price can be reasonable.
HealthCare.gov makes it look otherwise. A single insurer offers the PPO in every Florida county, and it's priced well above everything around it. In Polk County the marketplace PPO costs 132% more than the least expensive silver plan using another network. In Duval it's 130% more, and in Pasco 126% more. Most people see that once and move on.
There's a second kind of PPO. Underwritten private plans sit on nationwide PPO networks, and their price depends on your health instead of the marketplace's rate table. For a healthy contractor, that's where the conversation starts.
The tax credit decides almost everything. In Florida it's handled through HealthCare.gov, and it's based on your household's income for the year you're buying coverage. For a 1099 worker, count your net: what came in on the 1099s, minus tools, vehicle costs, software, supplies and the other costs of doing the job. A spouse's wages count too.
The stakes are high this year. Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation approved 2026 rate changes that averaged 34.1% across individual plans, weighted by enrollment and before any subsidy. For people who qualify, the credit carries much of that. Everyone else pays the new price.
Pick the case closest to yours.
If you qualify, the marketplace is usually where a Florida contractor pays the least, since the credit can't be used anywhere else.
Keep the network in mind. HMOs make up 316 of the 410 plans in Florida's marketplace file, so most of the options in front of you will use a defined local network. If your jobs stay inside your home region, that's usually workable. If work takes you across the state, check that the doctors you'd really use are included.
And keep your estimate current. 1099 income is easy to underguess. A new client or a big job late in the year can push you past what you told HealthCare.gov, and the extra credit can come due when you file.
Next step: Bring me your 1099s or a rough net figure, and we'll set an estimate and pick a plan that matches where you work.
Without the credit, the Florida increase hits you at full strength, and the one marketplace plan with a PPO network costs a good deal more than the rest. For a healthy contractor, that's the setup where an underwritten nationwide PPO tends to make sense.
Here's how it works. You answer health questions, and the insurer can approve you, decline you, or approve you with an existing condition carved out. When your health is good, that screening is the reason the price can land under the full marketplace rate. Every plan sets its own benefits, so we look at what it pays, not only what it costs.
Next step: Call me and I'll put a nationwide PPO quote beside the marketplace plans sold in your county, for everyone in your household.
If you see a specialist regularly or rely on a daily medication, keep your coverage on the marketplace even at full price. Your health can't be held against you there, and underwritten plans don't offer that protection.
In Florida the decision then comes down to network. A lower-priced HMO works if your doctors belong to it. If they don't, the marketplace PPO may be worth its higher price for you in particular.
Next step: Send me your doctors and prescriptions, and I'll show you which plans in your county keep them covered.
Losing your biggest client can turn a decent year into a terrible one. Here's the Florida trap. The state has not expanded Medicaid, and the marketplace credit generally starts at 100% of the federal poverty level. Fall below that and you may qualify for neither one.
So a lean year calls for more care, not less. Your estimate is a projection of the full year, and one new contract can move it a lot, so we look at the realistic picture before you apply.
Next step: Call me before you enroll in a thin year, and we'll go through what you qualify for and how to project the rest of the year realistically.
In a state with steady prices, an affordable marketplace PPO and expanded Medicaid, a contractor's coverage mistakes are cheap. Florida has none of those this year. The full price climbed, the marketplace PPO costs about twice what other plans do in a typical county, and very low incomes have no Medicaid backstop.
The fix is the same two steps as anywhere, done with more care: get your net income right, then let your health pick between the marketplace and a nationwide PPO.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Yes, if your household's net income for the year falls in the credit range. Florida uses HealthCare.gov, and self-employed income is counted after business expenses.
There's one, sold by a single insurer in every county, and it usually costs far more than the other plans in the same county. Healthy contractors often look at a nationwide PPO outside the marketplace instead.
You may land in a gap. The state hasn't expanded Medicaid, and the tax credit generally isn't available under the poverty level. Let's talk before you apply so you know where you stand.
Not usually. A company that pays you on a 1099 treats you as a business rather than an employee, so the coverage is yours to buy.
Your county, everyone who needs a plan, and a ballpark of last year's net from your 1099 work. From that I can tell you which route makes sense in Florida and what each one costs, and if you're already on the right plan, I'll say that.
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