You can still get a nationwide PPO in Florida, even in a year when marketplace prices climbed hard. Here's how roofing contractors and crew owners here are keeping their families covered for less.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a health insurance broker in Tampa with licenses in 36 states, and I do everything over the phone. In Florida, roofing runs on the weather. A quiet season means repairs and the steady re-roofs. A hurricane means tarps, claims and a backlog that can carry a company for a year, along with out-of-state crews rolling in to chase the work.
That boom-and-wait rhythm is exactly what makes health coverage tricky for a Florida roofer. Your income is hard to predict, the job is hard on your body, and the state's individual market just had an expensive year. Here's how roofers here are sorting it out.
You can still get a nationwide PPO in Florida. If you're healthy, it's often more affordable than the marketplace makes it look.
Here's what most roofers see when they shop. Florida's marketplace has one PPO, sold in every county by a single insurer, and it costs well more than the lowest-priced plan built on a different network. Along the coast it's typical: 72% more in Charlotte County, 91% more in Manatee, 60% more down in Monroe. In much of the state the gap is even wider.
That's the marketplace's PPO. Private plans that use medical underwriting are a separate thing. They sit on PPO networks that cover the whole country and price you on your health, which can put a healthy roofer well under the marketplace's full price.
In Florida you buy marketplace coverage through HealthCare.gov, and the help it offers is a tax credit based on your household's income for the year. For a roofing business, that's net income: after shingles, underlayment, dumpsters, crew pay, trailer and truck costs, permits and insurance. A storm year with huge invoices can still net less than people expect once all that comes out.
This year the line matters more than usual. Florida's insurance regulator reported that approved 2026 increases for individual plans averaged 34.1%, weighted by enrollment and measured before subsidies. If you qualify for the credit, much of that is absorbed. If you don't, you carry it.
Plenty of Florida roofers, especially smaller crews and 1099 roofers working under someone else's license, net enough to live on but stay inside the credit range. If that's you, HealthCare.gov is very likely where your most affordable coverage is, because the credit only applies to marketplace plans.
Most of the lower-priced plans in Florida counties use HMO or EPO networks built around local doctors. That usually works for a family that stays put. We'll check that your doctors and the hospital nearest you are included.
The estimate is where roofers get burned. You enroll before anyone knows what the season holds. If a storm doubles your work and you never update HealthCare.gov, part of the credit can turn into a bill when you file.
Next step: Send me last year's return and tell me how this season looks, and I'll help you set an estimate and pick a plan in your county.
After a major hurricane, a roofing company can have the best year it's ever had. That's great, until the full marketplace price lands, with the 34.1% average increase on top, and a marketplace PPO that costs far more than your local options.
If your household is healthy, price an underwritten nationwide PPO. You answer a medical questionnaire, and the insurer decides whether to accept you, decline you, or accept you with something in your history excluded. When your answers are clean, that screening is what can bring the price under the marketplace's full rate. Benefits vary from plan to plan, so we go over each one before you choose.
Next step: Call me and I'll price an underwritten PPO for your family and set it beside the HealthCare.gov plans in your county.
Years of carrying bundles up ladders in Florida heat add up. If you, or anyone you cover, has an ongoing condition or a medication that can't lapse, stay with the marketplace, even at full price. A HealthCare.gov plan can't refuse you or charge more because of your health. An underwritten plan can.
Then the question is network. A local HMO or EPO may keep all your doctors for far less. If your specialist is out of state, the marketplace PPO may be worth its price. We'll check your doctors and prescriptions by name.
Workers' comp is a separate question. It covers injuries from the job and nothing else. It won't pay for illness, a checkup or your kids' care.
Next step: Send me your doctors and medications and I'll show you which plans in your county cover them.
Not every year brings a storm, and a new roofing company can spend a year building its name. If your household income falls very low, Florida has a gap you should know about. The state has not adopted the Medicaid expansion, so a low income alone usually won't qualify an adult here, and the premium tax credit on HealthCare.gov generally doesn't begin until income reaches the poverty line. Fall below it and you may get neither.
If your year looks that thin, how you estimate your income and when you apply matter a lot.
Next step: Call me before you enroll in a lean year and we'll figure out what you qualify for and how to report it.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Yes. Florida's marketplace has one PPO from a single insurer, and it costs well more than the lowest-priced plan in every county. Healthy roofers often get better value from a nationwide PPO outside the marketplace.
The credit is based on your household's net income for the whole year. If storm work pushes it up after you enroll, update your estimate on HealthCare.gov so you don't owe a large amount back at tax time.
The state regulator approved an average increase of 34.1% for 2026 individual plans, weighted by enrollment and before subsidies. Roofers above the credit range pay that increase in full.
No. Workers' comp only covers injuries on the job. You need a health plan for illness, routine care and your family.
Your county, who you need covered and a rough number for what the business netted last year is enough to start. I'll show you which path fits and what it costs, and if what you have is already the smart move, I'll tell you.
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