You can still get a nationwide PPO in Maryland, and a builder on the Eastern Shore whose year runs on the beach calendar has every reason to price one. Here's how Shore contractors are handling coverage.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I broker health insurance out of Tampa, Maryland is among the states I hold a license in, and I take care of every client by phone.
Here's the picture. A builder in Berlin, a few miles inland from Ocean City, builds and renovates beach houses and condos along the Worcester County coast, with some custom homes over in Wicomico near Salisbury. His calendar runs backward from Memorial Day: owners want everything finished before rental season, so fall and winter are the crunch and midsummer can go quiet. He has two crews, a good name up and down the Shore, and a health plan he chooses for himself every year.
Plainly, you can still get a nationwide PPO in Maryland, and putting one together is part of what I do.
Maryland Health Connection, the state's own marketplace, does list PPOs. In Worcester and Wicomico for 2026 there are 4 of them beside 28 HMOs, from 3 insurance companies. The catch is the price, and it doesn't change with geography. Every plan carries the same rates in all four of Maryland's rating areas, and on silver for a 40-year-old before any subsidy, the lowest-priced PPO costs 64% more than the lowest-priced HMO. As a rule an HMO pays out of network only in an emergency, while a PPO also pays toward doctors outside its network, at a higher cost to you, without a referral. Private PPO plans with medical underwriting run on national networks and are priced on your health.
Your path starts with whether the household gets help with premiums. On Maryland Health Connection that can mean two layers: the federal premium tax credit and, for 2026, Maryland Premium Assistance, which the state offers to residents of any age with income up to 400% of the federal poverty level, on top of the federal credit.
Both rest on the company's net self-employment income for the coverage year, meaning its profit after lumber, pilings, subs, equipment, permits, insurance and the truck. Give the marketplace an estimate and revise it when the year shifts. A heavy fall of pre-season jobs can move the number more than you'd expect.
Past the help range you pay the whole marketplace premium, and the PPO costs 64% more than the HMO beside it. For a healthy family, price a medically underwritten nationwide PPO against that. The insurer goes through a health questionnaire and then approves, approves with one past condition excluded, or declines. Clean answers are how the premium can come in under Maryland Health Connection's full rate, and the network goes with the family to a Delaware beach town, a game in Philadelphia, or anywhere else. Every plan defines its own benefits, so we read them side by side.
Next step: Ring me with your county and everyone's age, and you'll have a nationwide PPO quote to set against the Shore marketplace plans.
If someone in the house manages a chronic condition or relies on a daily prescription, stay on Maryland Health Connection whatever the company earns. Those plans accept everyone and can't price your health. If the care your family needs sits outside the HMOs' networks, the marketplace PPO may be worth its premium. If it doesn't, the HMO that already includes your doctors is usually the better buy.
Next step: Send me the doctors and prescriptions that matter, and I'll check them against the Worcester and Wicomico plans.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Yes. For 2026 it has 8 PPOs statewide, and 4 are sold in every county, Worcester and Wicomico included.
No. Maryland's 2026 rates are the same in all four rating areas, so the lowest-priced silver PPO costs 64% more than the lowest-priced silver HMO everywhere in the state, for a 40-year-old before subsidies.
A state program that, for 2026, helps residents of any age with income up to 400% of the federal poverty level pay monthly premiums, on top of the federal tax credit.
Yes. A Maryland adult with income at or below 138% of the federal poverty level can qualify.
Send your county, everyone going on the plan and a ballpark of what the company netted last year. You'll get Maryland Health Connection prices, with any state help, beside a quote for a nationwide PPO, plus my honest read.
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