You can still get a nationwide PPO in Montana through me, and in the Bitterroot the marketplace PPO already undercuts the EPOs. Here is how owners of small family businesses in Hamilton choose.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a health insurance broker in Tampa with licenses in 36 states, and Montana business owners can work out their family's coverage with me by phone.
Here's a Bitterroot example: a couple in Hamilton who own a small brewery and taproom on Main Street, organized as an LLC. Summer brings river floaters and tourists heading to the Bitterroot's trailheads; winter is locals and a few loyal regulars. They have two kids, and their youngest sees a pediatric specialist in Missoula, about an hour north. With no employer plan in the picture, they shop HealthCare.gov every fall. In Ravalli County, the list has no HMOs and the PPOs are the less expensive option.
Ravalli County offers 30 individual medical plans for 2026 from three insurers: 22 PPOs and 8 EPOs. Here the PPO wins on price. A 40-year-old shopping silver plans with no subsidy pays 5% less for the most affordable PPO than for the most affordable EPO, and that's the case in 38 of Montana's 56 counties.
You can still get a nationwide PPO in Montana through me as well: underwritten on each family member's health, with a network that reaches past Montana for vacations, college trips and family elsewhere.
The credit is only good on HealthCare.gov, and it's tied to a benchmark silver plan, so a less expensive plan stretches it furthest. In Ravalli County the less expensive silver plan is a PPO. An EPO generally covers out-of-network care only in an emergency, while a PPO still contributes, with more left to you. For a family with a Missoula specialist, a credit-backed marketplace PPO is very likely the best value here. Confirm the specialist's network status first.
Next step: Share the kids' doctors and last year's return, and I'll show what Ravalli County's PPOs cost once the credit comes off.
Past the credit cutoff, each of you pays the full sticker, made heavier by this year's increase. That's the time to weigh Ravalli County's PPO against private coverage. Each family member answers health questions and is approved, approved with one condition excluded, or declined. Healthy families often come in below the marketplace's full rate. We'll go through benefits before you choose.
Next step: Ring me for a family nationwide PPO quote laid alongside Ravalli County's unsubsidized PPOs.
That family member usually belongs on a marketplace plan, where nobody is turned away and a diagnosis can't raise the price, chosen for the network that keeps their Missoula specialist. The others may do better on a private plan if they're healthy.
Next step: List each person's doctors and medications, and I'll compare splitting the family with keeping everyone on one marketplace plan.
An employee who isn't an owner or a relative may let the business use SHOP, the small-business marketplace, for a group plan. It's worth pricing, though the family's current plans may still come out ahead.
Next step: Get in touch before the new brewer's first shift, and we'll compare a group plan with the family's current coverage.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
At the silver level, yes. In Ravalli County the least expensive silver PPO costs 5% less than the least expensive silver EPO.
It is. The federal waiver behind it was extended to cover plan years 2025 through 2029.
Not through SHOP until it hires an employee who isn't an owner or relative.
Yes. Healthy owners and their families can buy one privately through me.
Let me know your county, the ages of everyone on the plan, about what the business cleared and whether any of you can get job-based coverage. You'll see both PPO options priced, with my recommendation.
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