You can still get a nationwide PPO in West Virginia through me. Here is how a Parkersburg couple who own a print shop read a big price increase, and why it hits a credit household and a full-price household so differently.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a broker in Tampa licensed in 36 states, and West Virginia business owners handle their health coverage with me over the phone.
The owners I'm picturing run a print and sign shop in Parkersburg: banners for Friday night games, menus for restaurants along the river, yard signs every election season, shirts for a few plants and contractors in the Mid-Ohio Valley. She runs the presses and the four employees; he does the sales calls and the books. There's no group plan, so the two of them buy their own on HealthCare.gov. When they opened this year's renewal, the headline price had jumped, and their first instinct was to drop coverage or switch to whatever cost the least.
Wood County has the same marketplace list as every West Virginia county for 2026: 37 individual medical plans from two insurers. One insurer is behind all 15 PPOs and the other behind all 22 HMOs. At silver, the PPO is the lower-priced pick, 3.5% under the HMO for a 40-year-old before any credit.
Through me, you can also still get a nationwide PPO in West Virginia, privately underwritten. That's the plan to price if the shop has had a strong run and you're both in good health.
KFF's average benchmark silver premium for a 40-year-old in West Virginia rose 16.8% from 2025 to 2026, and the Mid-Ohio Valley sits well above the state's low end: the least expensive silver plan in Wood County costs 23% more than in Berkeley and Jefferson counties.
Here's what the headline leaves out. The credit is figured from that same benchmark silver plan, minus a required contribution set by your household income. When the benchmark climbs and your income doesn't, the credit generally climbs with it. A household inside the credit range can see a much smaller change in what it actually pays. A household above the range pays every bit of the increase.
For an owner, the income that counts is generally what the business nets to your household after paper, ink, vinyl, equipment leases, rent and payroll, estimated for the year you're covered. If that lands between 100% and 400% of the poverty line, don't drop coverage over the sticker price until you've seen the price after the credit.
Then pick the plan type. The least expensive silver plan in Wood County is a PPO, and it pays something for out-of-network care, at a higher cost to you, while an HMO generally doesn't outside an emergency. For most owners in the credit range, that makes the silver PPO the better buy. The exception is when your doctors are only in the HMO company's network.
Next step: Send me last year's numbers from the business and your doctors, and I'll show you this year's price after the credit, PPO and HMO side by side.
Above four times the poverty line, you carry the whole increase yourselves. Before paying Wood County's full price, have me price a private nationwide PPO. The insurer reviews each of your health histories and approves, approves with one condition excluded, or declines. Healthy couples often come in under the marketplace's unsubsidized price, and I'll walk through the benefits of each plan with you before anything is final.
Next step: Call me after your accountant finishes last year's return, and I'll price a nationwide PPO against the full-price marketplace plans.
That spouse belongs on a marketplace plan regardless of income, because those plans accept everyone at the same price whatever their health. The healthy spouse may still do better on a private plan. Whether splitting the household saves money depends on your ages and income, so I'd price it both ways. With only two companies on the marketplace, choose by which one's network includes the doctors in Parkersburg, Marietta or Morgantown that person already sees.
Next step: List the doctors and prescriptions involved, and I'll find the Wood County plan that keeps them and price the split.
Prices and the list of plans are set fresh each year. When the 2027 plans post on HealthCare.gov this fall, check the companies, the networks and the price after the credit again, rather than letting the old plan roll over.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Prices rose statewide: KFF's average benchmark silver premium for a 40-year-old climbed 16.8% from 2025 to 2026.
Generally, yes. It's figured from the benchmark silver plan minus a required contribution based on your income, so a higher benchmark usually means a larger credit.
Yes, than the Eastern Panhandle. Wood County's least expensive silver plan costs 23% more than Berkeley and Jefferson counties'.
Yes. A healthy owner can get one from me as a private plan, separate from HealthCare.gov.
Tell me your county, your ages and roughly what the shop netted for your household. I'll show you what the Wood County marketplace costs you after the credit and what a private nationwide PPO would cost instead.
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