You can still get a nationwide PPO in Kentucky, even though every kynect medical plan is an HMO. Here is what a short list of insurers means for an agent who already knows which doctors she wants.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. Agents across Kentucky, from Louisville's East End to Bowling Green and Paducah, can handle their health coverage with me over the phone. I'm a broker in Tampa licensed in 36 states.
Picture an agent who has lived in Louisville for twenty years. She has a family doctor she trusts, a dermatologist she's seen since her thirties, and a son with asthma who sees a pulmonologist across town. She goes to kynect, Kentucky's own exchange, expecting to find a plan that keeps all three. What she finds is a menu of HMOs from just two insurers in Jefferson County, and her three doctors are split across them.
That's the Kentucky problem this page is about.
For 2026, kynect sells 85 individual medical plans. Every last one is an HMO, and three companies sell them across the whole state; no county gets more than three. A PPO simply isn't on the menu.
You can still get a nationwide PPO in Kentucky, sold privately and arranged by me. The carrier prices it after a medical questionnaire, and in exchange your network spans the country: the Louisville dermatologist, the Cincinnati specialist and the urgent care at the beach all count.
An HMO generally won't pay for care outside its network unless it's an emergency, and most HMOs expect a primary care doctor to coordinate referrals to specialists. In a county with two insurers, a family is effectively choosing between two lists of doctors. If the people you rely on are scattered across both lists, kynect has no plan that covers all of them for routine visits.
Fayette County has three insurers, so Lexington agents get one more list to test, but the logic is the same. Here's the exercise:
If nobody is marked, a kynect HMO may be perfectly good. If even one important doctor is, that's the signal to price a nationwide PPO.
Past the range where kynect's tax credit applies, you'd pay full price for an HMO that leaves out someone's doctor. A private PPO often makes more sense. The carrier reads everyone's health answers, then either accepts the household as applied, turns it down, or accepts it while excluding a specific condition. Families in good health frequently pay less than kynect's full rate for it.
Next step: Bring me the doctor list and your county, and I'll show you, network by network, who's covered where, next to a private PPO price.
With the credit in play, a kynect HMO tends to cost least, so the job is choosing the network that keeps the most important doctors. Commission years can surprise you on the upside, and from 2026 on, excess credit gets clawed back in full at tax time, so update kynect when a big closing lands.
Next step: Walk me through your closings and pending deals, and we'll pick an estimate and the network that fits your family best.
Ongoing care changes the order of operations. Choose the kynect network that includes that person's specialist first, since kynect plans must accept every applicant and can't price around a diagnosis, then fit the rest of the household around that choice.
Next step: Name the specialist and medications involved, and I'll find which kynect networks in your county include them.
Kentucky took the Medicaid expansion, and KFF's table puts the adult income ceiling at 138% of the federal poverty level. A new licensee or an agent in a dead stretch might land under it. Medicaid eligibility and kynect's credit don't stack, so if a few closings later push the year above that ceiling, it's time to switch.
Fayette County's third insurer helps, but agents there still run the same check. The more established your family's doctors are, the more likely they're tied to one health system, and that system may line up with only one kynect network. Testing names, not plan brochures, is what tells you whether kynect can work.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Two in Jefferson County for 2026. Statewide, no county has more than three.
No. All 85 of its individual medical plans are HMOs. A healthy agent can still buy a nationwide PPO privately, and I can set it up.
No. Kentucky runs its own exchange, kynect.
Possibly. Kentucky expanded Medicaid, with an adult income ceiling of 138% of the federal poverty level per KFF.
Give me your county, the names of the doctors your household sees, and a rough idea of last year's net commission. I'll test those names against each kynect network and quote a private PPO alongside.
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