You can still get a nationwide PPO in Arkansas through me, and the Arkansas marketplace sells PPO-labeled plans near the POS price. Here is how owners of family businesses in Jonesboro weigh the options.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a health insurance broker in Tampa, licensed in 36 states, and Family coverage for Arkansas business owners is something I handle entirely by phone.
Here's a Northeast Arkansas picture: a couple in Jonesboro who own a flooring and countertop showroom off Highland Drive, set up as an LLC. One handles sales and design; the other runs installs with a small crew. Business follows new construction and remodeling, so a good year can be very good and a slow one lean. They have three kids, the oldest about to start at Arkansas State. Neither has a job with benefits anymore, so the whole family buys coverage through HealthCare.gov.
Craighead County has the same 52 individual medical plans as every other Arkansas county for 2026: 28 filed as PPOs and 24 as POS plans. The PPO costs barely more. A 40-year-old shopping silver with no subsidy would pay 3% more for the least expensive PPO than for the least expensive POS plan.
Through me, you can still get a nationwide PPO in Arkansas outside the marketplace too, underwritten on each family member's health, with doctors in network well beyond Northeast Arkansas, from Memphis to wherever the family vacations.
The credit only works on HealthCare.gov. It's a set amount based on a benchmark silver plan, so a more expensive plan costs you the difference, and in Arkansas a PPO's difference is about 3%. A plan filed as a PPO still pays for out-of-network care at a higher cost to you, which can matter for a family with a child heading off to school or trips out of state. For many families with the credit, the marketplace PPO is a good buy.
Next step: Share last year's tax return and each family member's doctors, and you'll see the Craighead County plans priced after the credit.
Once profit clears the credit line, every person in the house pays full price, and this year's increase makes that heavier. Compare the marketplace PPO with a private nationwide PPO. The private plan underwrites each family member separately; the answer for each is yes, yes minus one listed condition, or no. Healthy families frequently pay less than the marketplace's full rate. We compare benefits plan by plan before you commit.
Next step: Phone me, and I'll lay a nationwide PPO quote for the whole family beside the full marketplace prices.
Keep that family member on the marketplace, where nobody is refused and a diagnosis doesn't change the price, and pick the network that includes their Jonesboro or Memphis specialist. Everyone else may do better privately if they're healthy.
Next step: Tell me who sees which doctors and takes which medications, and I'll price the family both ways: split, and all on one marketplace plan type.
Once you hire someone who isn't an owner or a relative, the business may qualify for SHOP, the small-business marketplace, and a group plan. Whether that helps depends on the employee and your budget.
Next step: Ring me before the hire's first day, and we'll weigh group coverage against the family's current plans.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
No. In every county the least expensive silver PPO costs 3% more than the least expensive silver POS plan.
The Arkansas Insurance Department approved a weighted average increase of 22.2% for individual plans.
Not through SHOP until it has at least one employee who isn't an owner or family member.
Yes. Healthy owners and their families can buy one outside the marketplace through me.
Send your county, everyone's ages, a rough idea of the company's profit, and whether either of you has a job with group coverage. You'll get the marketplace and a private plan priced for the family, with my honest pick.
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