You can still get a nationwide PPO in Wisconsin through me, and in St. Croix County the marketplace PPO is actually priced below the EPOs. Here is how contractors who live in Wisconsin and work in Minnesota choose.
Hi, I'm Sam. I'm a health insurance broker based in Tampa and licensed in 36 states, and a big share of the people I help are paid on 1099s. Wisconsin contractors can set things up with me over the phone.
Hudson is a Wisconsin town that commutes to Minnesota. Imagine a freelance UX designer who lives there with her husband. Her biggest client is a retailer in Minneapolis, another is a medical device company in the northern suburbs, and a third is a St. Paul agency. She's across the St. Croix River three or four days a week, and her favorite clinic is in Woodbury. Until this spring she had a staff job with benefits at an agency; now every client pays her on a 1099. As a St. Croix County resident, she shops on HealthCare.gov, and her county's PPO turns out to be the least expensive silver plan on the list.
St. Croix County has 29 individual medical plans for 2026: 12 EPOs, 9 POS plans and 8 PPOs. Here the usual pattern flips. For a 40-year-old before any subsidy, the least expensive silver PPO costs 3% less than the least expensive silver EPO. Pierce County, next door, is the same.
You can still get a nationwide PPO in Wisconsin through me as well, a private plan priced on your health. In St. Croix County it's a comparison between two PPO options rather than a rescue from an HMO.
An EPO generally pays outside its network only for emergencies. A PPO keeps paying out of network, with you covering a bigger share. For someone whose work and doctors sit in Minnesota, the question is whether your Woodbury clinic, the urgent care near your client and the hospital you'd choose are in network. The marketplace PPO, priced below the EPOs, makes that question easier to answer well.
HealthCare.gov uses your net self-employment income for the coverage year: 1099 totals less software, hardware, a home office, conferences and the mileage to client sites. Revise it promptly when a client signs a bigger contract or walks away.
Wisconsin's low end is precise and worth knowing. The state didn't take the ACA expansion, but BadgerCare Plus covers adults, including those without children, up to 100% of the poverty level, which is where the marketplace credit generally begins. A thin year still leaves a contractor with an option.
Wisconsin's continuation law covers insured group plans at employers of any size, for up to 18 months, though it doesn't reach self-funded employer plans. That can keep your old coverage in place while you size up the first 1099 year. Losing the job's coverage also opens a marketplace enrollment window, so compare the two before you elect.
Next step: Call me before your last day, and we'll put continuing the old plan side by side with the St. Croix County options.
HealthCare.gov is where the credit works. It's a set amount tied to a benchmark silver plan, so in most places a PPO costs you extra. Here it doesn't. For a contractor with Minnesota doctors, the St. Croix County PPO with the credit is very often the right buy, and I'll tell you if it's yours.
Next step: Send me your Minnesota doctors and your net, and I'll price the county's PPO and EPOs with your credit applied.
At full price, compare the marketplace PPO with a private nationwide PPO. The private plan asks medical questions; the insurer accepts you, accepts you with one condition left out, or declines. A healthy contractor often pays less than the marketplace's full rate, on a network that's national rather than regional. We'll read the benefits of each before you choose.
Next step: Phone me and I'll set a nationwide PPO quote next to the full-price St. Croix County PPO.
With a medication you can't miss or a specialist on your calendar, stay on HealthCare.gov whatever your income. Marketplace plans can't turn you down or price you on your health. Pick the network that includes your specialist, on whichever side of the river they practice.
Next step: Tell me your doctors and prescriptions, and I'll check them against the St. Croix County plans.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
At the silver level, yes. The least expensive silver PPO costs 3% less than the least expensive silver EPO in St. Croix County.
Only if the clinic is in the plan's network, or in an emergency.
You may be able to. Wisconsin's continuation law applies to insured group plans at employers of any size, for up to 18 months, but not to self-funded plans.
Yes. Through me, healthy contractors can buy one outside the marketplace.
Let me know where you live, roughly what share of your clients and doctors are on the Minnesota side, and what your 1099s cleared last year. I'll come back with a recommendation and real prices.
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