You can still get a nationwide PPO in Iowa through me, even though Johnson County's small marketplace sells none. Here is how travelers who keep an Iowa City home handle coverage between and during contracts.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a health insurance broker working from Tampa with licenses in 36 states, and travel nurses are a big part of who I help. Contracts change, coverage shouldn't have to, and we can sort it out by phone.
Picture a nurse who finished her BSN in Iowa City, worked four years in a surgical ICU at the big academic hospital there, then went travel. She bought a small house on the east side and kept it. This year she's worked a winter in Tucson, a spring in Boston and a summer in Boise. Between contracts she comes home to Johnson County. The agency plan ends with every assignment, and when she shops HealthCare.gov at home she finds a short list with no PPO on it.
Johnson County has 16 individual medical plans for 2026, from two insurers: 9 EPOs and 7 HMOs. Iowa's 12 marketplace PPOs are sold only in seven northwest Iowa counties, nowhere near Iowa City.
You can still get a nationwide PPO in Iowa through me. It's private, priced on a health questionnaire, with Tucson and Boise providers inside its network instead of outside it.
The marketplace credit is figured from household income across the coverage year and stops above four times the federal poverty level. A traveler's total rises and falls with contracts, stipends, rest and any per diem shifts. Estimate from signed and likely contracts, then adjust.
Medicaid in Iowa was expanded through the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan; adults qualify up to 138% of the poverty line, per KFF. A work requirement is coming early in Iowa: KFF's tracker lists December 1, 2026 as the start date.
When job-based coverage stops, HealthCare.gov opens a 60-day special enrollment period for you. COBRA can extend the agency plan, but dropping it voluntarily later, or not paying, won't open another window. Make the call before you elect it.
Travelers who are tired of the reset often buy one plan of their own and keep it all year.
Next step: Call me a couple of weeks before the contract ends, and we'll have coverage ready for your time at home.
That help can only be used on HealthCare.gov, and in Johnson County that means an EPO or an HMO from one of two insurers. Either one generally pays outside its network only for emergencies, so routine care on assignment would come out of your pocket. If you're home a lot, that may be acceptable. If you're gone most of the year, compare the credit-reduced local plan with a private nationwide PPO before you assume the marketplace wins.
Next step: Walk me through your assignment dates, and you'll see a Johnson County plan after your credit with a nationwide PPO quote.
At full price, an EPO or HMO tied to eastern Iowa is a tough buy for someone who works everywhere else. A private nationwide PPO usually fits better. The underwriter reviews your health answers and approves, approves with one condition left out, or declines. Healthy nurses frequently pay less than the marketplace's full price, and we compare benefits before you decide.
Next step: Schedule a call, and you'll get a nationwide PPO quote alongside Johnson County's unsubsidized prices.
If you can't skip a medication or you see a specialist regularly, the marketplace is the steadier choice at any income. Every applicant is accepted, and health can't raise the price. Choose the plan that keeps your Iowa City specialist, and schedule care around trips home.
Next step: Share your specialists and medications, and I'll check them against both Johnson County insurers' networks.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
No. Johnson County's 2026 marketplace plans are EPOs and HMOs from two insurers.
Generally only in an emergency, because HMOs and EPOs pay outside their network only then.
It's starting one. KFF's tracker lists December 1, 2026.
Yes. Nurses in good health can buy one privately through me.
Share your home county, the year's contract dates and your likely next destination. I'll lay out coverage for the gaps and price a plan that travels with you.
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