You can still get a nationwide PPO in Mississippi, even though the marketplace sells none. Here is how owners in DeSoto County, whose families often see doctors across the line in Memphis, choose coverage.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm licensed in 36 states and based in Tampa, and Mississippi business owners can work through their family coverage with me by phone.
Imagine a couple in Olive Branch who run a small trucking dispatch company. They live in DeSoto County, Mississippi, but their pediatrician, their OB and the hospital they'd choose in an emergency are all a few miles north in Memphis, Tennessee. Their coverage has to come from Mississippi's marketplace because that's where they live, and every plan there is an HMO or EPO. Whether those plans' networks reach into Memphis is the question that decides everything for them.
For 2026, HealthCare.gov shows Mississippians 48 individual medical plans, split between HMOs and EPOs. There isn't a single PPO among them.
You can still get a nationwide PPO in Mississippi, and I can arrange one for the whole family. Each person answers health questions, the premium follows from the answers, and the network includes doctors and hospitals in Tennessee and every other state, so a Memphis pediatrician is simply in network.
HMOs and EPOs generally pay outside their own networks only in an emergency. DeSoto County has 5 marketplace insurers, which is good news: there are several networks to test. But some may include the Memphis doctors your family uses and some may not, and the only way to know is to check, name by name.
Check each plan's network for:
For owners whose household earns past the marketplace credit, the full price rose sharply. KFF's benchmark premium for a 40-year-old in Mississippi went up 36.5% from 2025 to 2026, and a family pays that on every member. That makes the network question more expensive to get wrong.
A family has more doctors than a single adult: pediatricians, school-sport injuries, an orthodontist referral, a specialist for a child with allergies. In DeSoto County many of those providers sit across the line in Tennessee. Every one of them needs to be in the plan's network for routine visits to be covered, so the more doctors your family uses in Memphis, the harder it is for any one Mississippi HMO or EPO to cover them all.
This is the family most likely to save privately. A carrier reviews each person's health and then issues the policy, declines, or issues it with one named condition excluded. Healthy households often pay less than the marketplace's full price and keep their Memphis doctors in network without hunting for the right HMO.
Next step: Send me the family's ages and doctor list, and I'll compare each DeSoto County network with a nationwide PPO quote.
Keep that person on the marketplace, which must accept everyone without pricing in health history. Choose the network that includes their Memphis or Mississippi specialist. Sometimes the healthy members go private and one person stays on the marketplace; I'll price both ways.
Next step: Tell me that family member's doctors and medications, and I'll check them against all five insurers' networks.
If the business has a rough year, the marketplace credit may come back into play, but be careful at the very bottom: Mississippi hasn't adopted the ACA Medicaid expansion. And if you hire someone who isn't an owner or relative, SHOP becomes possible for a group plan, which can bring different network choices.
Next step: Before renewal in a year that looks different, call me and we'll re-run the comparison.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Only if they're in that plan's network. Mississippi's marketplace plans are HMOs and EPOs, which generally cover out-of-network care only in emergencies.
Five for 2026.
No. Mississippi's marketplace plans are all HMOs or EPOs this year. A family in good health can still get a nationwide PPO privately, and I can set it up for everyone on the plan.
Through SHOP only after you hire someone who isn't an owner or family member.
Tell me your county, the doctors and hospitals your family uses on both sides of the state line, everyone's ages and roughly what the company netted. I'll match a plan to that map.
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