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Affordable Health Insurance in Texas: What Most People Don't Know
Five facts most Texans learn the expensive way.
1. "Affordable" on the marketplace means subsidized
HealthCare.gov prices are designed to be offset by the premium tax credit. Without it, you're paying the full cost of a guaranteed-issue pool.
2. There's a second market
Private shared-network plans on Cigna, Aetna and PHCS PPO price on health instead of income. For healthy people above the subsidy line they're often half the price, with a PPO.
3. Your doctor probably takes the PPO, not the HMO
National PPO networks are what most employer plans use. Many doctors in Houston and Dallas are in the Cigna, Aetna and PHCS PPO network and not in the narrow marketplace HMOs.
4. You can enroll in a private plan any month
No waiting for November. Apply by the 20th, coverage on the 1st.
5. The deduction applies either way
Texas has no state income tax, so the self-employed health insurance deduction only reduces your federal bill — which makes the premium itself the number to attack.
And one Texas-specific thing
Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country, and because Medicaid wasn't expanded, adults under the poverty line fall into a coverage gap with no subsidy at all.
Check your options to see what affordable actually looks like for your situation.