You can still get a nationwide PPO anywhere in Virginia, even where the marketplace sells none. Here is how travel nurses with a Virginia home base cover contract gaps and stay in network on the road.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a licensed broker based in Tampa, and with licenses in 36 states I help travel nurses arrange coverage of their own by phone, whether home is Norfolk, Charlottesville or a townhouse in Manassas.
If Virginia is your tax home, your plan options come from Virginia's own exchange, not HealthCare.gov. Nearly everything on it is an HMO or an EPO, and both are built around local networks. For a nurse who spends most of the year in other states, that's the problem this page is about.
Virginia's Insurance Marketplace offers 83 individual medical plans for this year: 60 HMOs, 19 EPOs and 4 PPOs. Those PPOs, all from one insurer, stay inside a pocket of Northern Virginia: Falls Church, Alexandria, the City of Fairfax and Arlington, along with sections of Prince William, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. A nurse living in Richmond or Hampton Roads can't buy one there.
You can still get a nationwide PPO anywhere in Virginia, privately, through me. It's an underwritten policy priced from your health answers, with providers in every state you might take a contract in. For a healthy traveler, that's the plan built for the job.
HMOs and EPOs generally pay for out-of-network care only in an emergency. A Virginia HMO can be perfect during a month at home and leave you paying for a routine visit in Arizona.
Income shapes the rest. The premium tax credit follows your household's income for the coverage year, which depends on how many weeks you work. And Virginia expanded Medicaid, so a year with long breaks can land you in Medicaid range, up to 138% of the federal poverty level.
Because the plan ended through no choice of yours, Virginia's marketplace gives you a special enrollment period, usually 60 days, to pick new coverage. COBRA is an option too, but dropping it voluntarily later doesn't open a new window.
Before choosing, look at where the next contract is. A Virginia HMO works for time at home. If you're starting in another state next month, routine care there probably won't be covered.
Next step: Get in touch while you're still on the contract, and we'll set up coverage for both the time at home and the job after it.
At full price, a Virginia HMO or EPO buys you a network that mostly stays home. This is exactly the traveler a nationwide PPO is for.
The application asks about your health, and the insurer approves, declines, or approves with a named condition excluded. If you're healthy, the premium often falls below the full marketplace rate, and you'll have in-network doctors in the states where you work. We'll go over each policy's benefits before you decide.
Next step: Book a call, and I'll compare a nationwide PPO with the plans available at your Virginia address.
If your income lands in the credit range, a marketplace plan is usually the better value for the time you're home. If it drops to 138% of the poverty level or below, Virginia's expanded Medicaid may cover you instead, and Medicaid eligibility generally means no marketplace credit.
Report the change once your next contract starts and your income climbs again.
Next step: List the contracts you've done and the ones coming, and I'll tell you which program suits this part of the year.
Stay with the marketplace, credit or not. Marketplace insurers have to take you at a price that ignores your medical past, a promise underwritten policies don't make.
For a Virginia-based traveler, that means choosing the HMO or EPO that includes your home doctors and planning refills and appointments around your time in Virginia.
Next step: Share your doctors and medications, and I'll pick out the Virginia networks that include them.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Only if you live in one of seven Northern Virginia localities, and even then from a single insurer. A healthy nurse anywhere in Virginia can get a nationwide PPO privately through me.
Generally only for emergencies. HMOs and EPOs usually don't pay for routine out-of-network care.
Losing an agency plan opens a special enrollment period, generally 60 days, on Virginia's marketplace.
It could, if your income for that stretch falls to 138% of the poverty level or lower, since Virginia expanded the program.
Share your Virginia locality, the contracts you've worked or booked this year, and anyone else on the plan. I'll show you coverage that fits how you travel and what it costs from a Virginia address.
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