You can still get a nationwide PPO in Maryland through me. Here is how travelers who keep a rowhouse or apartment in Baltimore cover the weeks between contracts and the months far from home.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I broker health insurance from Tampa, I'm licensed in 36 states, and travel nurses are some of my favorite people to help, because their coverage problem is so specific. We handle it by phone.
Imagine a nurse who trained and worked in East Baltimore, then started traveling three years ago. She kept her rowhouse in Canton, partly as an investment and partly because Baltimore is home. This year she's done a fall in Phoenix and a winter in Minneapolis, and spring is lined up in New Orleans. Her agency's plan begins and ends with each contract. When she's home between assignments, she's a Maryland resident with no coverage unless she buys some, and Maryland Health Connection is mostly HMOs.
Of the 43 marketplace medical plans a Baltimore City resident can pick from in 2026, 39 are HMOs and just 4 are PPOs. Prices don't vary by region in Maryland; every rating area pays the same rate. Measured on silver plans for a 40-year-old with no subsidy, the PPO runs 64% above the most affordable HMO.
There's another way to get the broad network. Through me, you can still get a nationwide PPO in Maryland on the private side. The premium is based on a health questionnaire, and the network treats a clinic in New Orleans or Phoenix as in network, just like your doctor back in Baltimore.
Premium help is sized to what your household earns in the coverage year, and it stops above four times the federal poverty level. A traveler's year is hard to predict: some contracts pay heavy stipends, some months you rest, and a per diem shift or two at home can sneak onto a 1099. Estimate it from the contracts you can see, then adjust as new ones get signed.
When job-based coverage ends, you have a 60-day window to sign up on Maryland Health Connection. COBRA can keep the agency plan going, but if you later drop it on purpose or stop paying, that doesn't count as losing coverage and won't reopen enrollment. Pick your route before you sign the COBRA election.
Plenty of nurses get tired of the reset and keep one plan they own all year. That way nothing ends just because a contract did.
Next step: Ring me a couple of weeks before your final shift so your coverage is in place for the gap.
Buy on Maryland Health Connection, the only place the credit works. Then face the trade-off honestly. The credit is pegged to a benchmark silver plan, so choosing the PPO means paying its 64% markup yourself. An HMO is the bargain, but away from Maryland it generally pays only for emergencies. If you'll spend most of the year on assignment, it may be worth paying for the PPO's out-of-network coverage, and if you're mostly home, the HMO wins. We can price both.
Next step: Send me your assignment dates, and I'll compare a Baltimore HMO and the marketplace PPO with your credit applied.
Without the credit, the marketplace PPO is a full-price plan that still treats most of the country as out of network. A private nationwide PPO is the natural comparison. The insurer reviews your health answers and offers coverage, offers it minus a specific condition, or says no. A healthy nurse often lands below the marketplace's sticker price, with in-network care in whatever city the next contract is in. We'll read the benefits of each plan before you choose.
Next step: Call me and I'll price a nationwide PPO against Maryland Health Connection's full prices for your address.
If you can't miss a medication or you see a specialist on a schedule, Maryland Health Connection is usually the better home even at full price. Its plans accept every applicant and can't charge more for a diagnosis. Choose the plan that keeps your Baltimore specialist and time refills and visits around your trips home.
Next step: Give me your doctors and prescriptions, and I'll check which Baltimore plans keep them in network.
Maryland's open enrollment window opens November 1 and closes January 15. Sign up by December 31 if you want a January 1 start date.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Generally only in an emergency, since HMOs pay outside their network only then.
There are four PPOs available in Baltimore City, priced well above the HMOs: the most affordable silver PPO runs 64% higher than the most affordable silver HMO.
Losing that coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment window.
Yes. Nurses in good health can buy one privately, and I'll set it up.
Share your Maryland county, the dates of this year's contracts and your next likely destination. You'll get a plan for the gaps and a clear price on the options that travel well.
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