You can still get a nationwide PPO in Alabama through me, and around Birmingham the marketplace PPO is only a little pricier than its EPOs. Here is how owners of family companies in Jefferson and Shelby counties choose.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a licensed broker working from Tampa with licenses in 36 states, and Alabama business owners can sort out family coverage with me on a phone call.
Imagine a couple in Hoover who own two dry cleaners, one off Highway 280 and one in Homewood, set up as an LLC. They have a teenage son and a daughter in college at Auburn. A few years back their son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and his endocrinologist is in Birmingham. The business pays well some years and only adequately in others. There's no group plan for just the two owners, so they buy family coverage on HealthCare.gov.
Jefferson and Shelby counties each have 54 individual medical plans for 2026, from four insurers: 44 EPOs and 10 PPOs. Around Birmingham the PPO costs a little more than elsewhere in the state, but only a little. For a 40-year-old with no subsidy, the least expensive silver PPO is 9% above the least expensive silver EPO, and that's the widest gap anywhere in Alabama.
Through me, you can still get a nationwide PPO in Alabama on the private side too, underwritten family member by family member, with a network that reaches the daughter at college and the grandparents in another state.
Shop HealthCare.gov, where the credit applies. The credit is a set amount tied to a benchmark silver plan, so the PPO's extra 9% comes out of the family budget. For this family, that might be the right spend. An EPO generally pays out of network only in an emergency, so check whether the clinics near the daughter's campus are in network before you rely on an EPO. If the son's endocrinologist is in the PPO's network, a credit-backed marketplace PPO is a sound choice.
Next step: Bring last year's return and every family member's doctors, and I'll price the Birmingham-area PPO and EPOs after your credit.
Above the credit range, each person pays the full sticker. A family with one ongoing condition can still save. The son with diabetes would usually stay on a marketplace plan, since marketplace plans can't decline anyone or charge more for health. The healthy parents and daughter may be priced privately: each fills out a health questionnaire and is accepted, accepted with a specific condition excluded, or turned down. We compare benefits plan by plan.
Advance credit that turns out too generous comes back out of your refund, and from 2026 on there's no ceiling on what you might owe.
Next step: Call me and I'll price the family both ways: everyone on the marketplace, and a split with a private nationwide PPO for whoever qualifies.
Bringing on an employee who isn't an owner or a relative may let the business offer a group plan through SHOP, the small-business marketplace. Whether that helps depends on the employee and on what the family already has.
Next step: Ring me before the hire is final, and we'll compare a group plan with the family's individual coverage.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Not much. In Jefferson and Shelby counties, the least expensive silver PPO costs 9% more than the least expensive silver EPO.
Yes. Families can be split across plans, and marketplace plans can't charge more because of health.
Generally only in an emergency, unless the provider is in the plan's network.
Yes. If you're healthy, I can arrange one privately for you and your family.
Send your county, the ages of everyone on the plan, a rough number for what the company cleared, and any specialists the family relies on. You'll get both routes priced and a frank recommendation.
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