You can still get a nationwide PPO in Delaware through me. Here is how a Sussex County agent in her early sixties, selling to retirees, covers the few years between now and Medicare.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a broker with licenses in 36 states, and Delaware real estate agents get their health coverage sorted with me over the phone.
The agent I'm picturing is 62 and works out of Milton. Her buyers are mostly people her own age or a little older, retiring out of Baltimore, the Philadelphia suburbs and northern New Jersey into the 55-plus communities around Millsboro, Milton and Long Neck. Business is good but uneven, since retirees list and buy on their own schedules. She left a corporate job years ago, so there's no employer plan, and Medicare is still three birthdays away. Her doctors are in Lewes, and her cardiologist is across the line in Salisbury, Maryland.
All three Delaware counties share one marketplace list for 2026: 40 individual medical plans from three insurers, with one company selling the 17 EPOs, another the 15 PPOs and a third the 8 HMOs. The PPO is the premium choice. For a 40-year-old before any subsidy, the least expensive silver PPO costs 6% more than the least expensive silver HMO and 18% more than the least expensive silver EPO.
You can still get a nationwide PPO in Delaware through me as well, privately underwritten. At 62 that deserves a careful look, and I'll tell you plainly which side comes out ahead for you.
Marketplace premiums can rise with age, up to a 3 to 1 spread for adults, and an agent in her sixties pays toward the top of it. Delaware's full prices also climbed sharply this year: KFF's average benchmark silver premium for a 40-year-old rose 29.4% from 2025 to 2026.
That makes the credit worth more to you than to a younger agent. It generally applies between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, based on household income for the coverage year: commissions after the split, minus dues, marketing and the drives between Lewes and Long Neck.
With the credit, the decision for 2027 is mainly between the two companies the Insurance Department lists for next year. The EPO company that sold the least expensive silver plans in 2026 isn't on that list. Of the two that remain, the silver PPO cost 6% more than the silver HMO in 2026.
The HMO generally won't pay outside its network except in an emergency; the PPO does, at a higher cost to you. With a cardiologist in Salisbury, find out which network includes that practice before you decide. If it's in the HMO's network, the HMO is probably the better buy with the credit. If it isn't, the PPO's extra cost may be worth it.
Next step: Send me your doctors, including the Salisbury cardiologist, and a commission estimate for next year, and once 2027 plans post I'll price both companies' options with the credit.
If closings carry the household past four times the poverty line, there's no credit, and at your age the full price is steep. Compare it with a private nationwide PPO. The insurer reviews your health history and approves, approves with one condition excluded, or declines. Healthy agents often come in under the marketplace's unsubsidized price, and I'll go over each plan's benefits with you before you commit.
Next step: Call me once the year's closings are mostly in, and I'll put a private PPO quote next to the full-price marketplace plans.
You can keep a marketplace plan until Medicare begins. Marketplace coverage doesn't end on its own when Medicare starts, though, so plan to cancel it yourself when Medicare begins rather than paying for coverage you no longer need.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Yes. In 2026 the least expensive silver PPO costs 6% more than the least expensive silver HMO, before any subsidy.
The Insurance Department's 2027 rate announcement lists two. The company that sold every EPO in 2026 isn't one of them.
Yes. You can have one until Medicare begins, but you have to end it yourself when Medicare starts.
Yes, if your health qualifies. I'll price one beside the marketplace plans so you can see both.
Tell me your birthday, who else is on your policy and about what your commissions will net this year. I'll price the Delaware marketplace and a private nationwide PPO for each year until 65.
The guide for every state, and other work I help with