You can still get a nationwide PPO in Nevada, and Nevada Health Link now has a new kind of state-designed plan worth a look. Here's how plumbers and pipefitters in Reno, Las Vegas and the rural counties are weighing their options.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber, a Tampa broker whose work is limited to health insurance. My license covers Nevada, and we can get everything done over the phone.
Plumbing in Nevada runs from the fast-growing neighborhoods of the Las Vegas valley to the new homes and industrial buildings around Reno and Sparks, with plenty of service work in the older parts of both cities. Hard water and desert heat keep water heaters and lines failing on schedule. For a plumber with his own shop, Nevada's marketplace looks a bit different for 2026, because the state added a new kind of plan to the menu. This page is about how to fit it into your decision.
Whatever you decide about the new state plans, you can still get a nationwide PPO in Nevada through me.
Nevada Health Link itself has 138 individual medical plans for 2026, from 9 insurers, and they are all HMOs or EPOs. No PPO is sold there. HMOs and EPOs generally pay for out-of-network care only in emergencies; a PPO covers doctors outside the network too, at a higher cost and without referrals. Private plans with medical underwriting run on national PPO networks and are priced on your health.
For the 2026 plan year, Nevada introduced the Battle Born State Plans, a set of state-designed plans sold on Nevada Health Link next to the other marketplace plans. In the federal plan file for Nevada, 29 individual medical plans carry the Battle Born name, and every one of them is an HMO.
So they add choice inside the marketplace, but they don't change the network picture: like the rest of Nevada Health Link, they aren't PPOs. They're one more set of options to compare on price, doctors and drugs.
This is the plumber this page is built around. If your household's profit for the year, after the truck, pipe, fittings, fixtures, licensing, insurance and a helper's pay, lands in the federal credit range, a Nevada Health Link plan is almost always your least expensive coverage, since the credit only works on marketplace plans.
Here's how I'd compare:
The plan that wins on all three isn't always the one with the lowest premium.
Next step: Send me your county, your family's ages and your doctors, and I'll show you how the Battle Born State Plans stack up against the rest.
If the shop has grown past the credit range, every marketplace plan, Battle Born or not, is full price and network-limited. That's when it pays to look outside. A private nationwide PPO that underwrites on health asks medical questions first; depending on the answers, the carrier offers the policy, turns it down, or offers it without coverage for one previous problem. Healthy households usually see a premium that beats the marketplace's sticker price.
Next step: Call me with your county and everyone's ages and I'll quote a nationwide PPO next to the Nevada Health Link options.
If income drops to 138% of the federal poverty level or below, Nevada's Medicaid expansion means you can qualify. If a family member lives with a chronic illness, Nevada Health Link remains the right home whatever you earn, since nobody there can be denied or surcharged for a diagnosis. And a workers' comp policy, should the shop have one, is limited to injuries on the job.
Next step: Call me if either fits your year and we'll pick the right coverage.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
State-designed plans Nevada introduced for 2026, sold on Nevada Health Link alongside the other plans. In the 2026 federal plan file, the 29 plans carrying the Battle Born name are all HMOs.
No. They're HMOs, like most of what Nevada Health Link sells, and the marketplace has no PPO medical plan for 2026. I can quote a private nationwide PPO for a plumber in good health.
They're sold on Nevada Health Link, where the federal premium tax credit applies to marketplace plans for households that qualify.
Yes. Adults with household income up to 138% of the federal poverty level can qualify.
Your county, the people you're covering and a rough figure for the shop's profit are what I need. I'll line up the Battle Born State Plans, the other marketplace plans and a PPO side by side, with prices.
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