Your Florida Health Insurance Broker, Statewide

Ryan Michalek, Licensed Health & Life Insurance Agent, NPN 21043091. Last updated November 8, 2026 · Read my Google reviews

How health coverage works in Florida

Florida uses the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace for ACA plans, which many Floridians still call Obamacare. Those plans are guaranteed-issue and subsidy-eligible if you qualify, and more Floridians enroll there than in any other state. But a huge share of the state is self-employed or seasonal (see self-employed health insurance in Florida), and plenty earn too much for subsidies or want more doctor flexibility than a narrow-network marketplace plan offers. Private under-65 plans often give PPO-style access and can be started outside open enrollment (here's how private health insurance in Florida works). I compare both sides and tell you straight which one fits, and since Florida has no state income tax, it comes down to the real premium numbers. Marketplace PPOs do exist in Florida for 2027, but in Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville the cheapest one costs roughly 78% to 113% more than the benchmark silver plan for a 60-year-old (public marketplace quotes checked October 31, 2026). Can you still get a PPO in 2027?

Where the marketplace PPOs are in Florida. Florida’s marketplace has a PPO in all 67 counties for 2027, but it’s priced high where most people live. In Hillsborough the lowest-priced PPO for a 60-year-old runs about 86% over the benchmark silver, in Duval about 78% over, and in Miami-Dade about 113% over. The lowest in the state is about $1,815 a month in Sumter County. A county listing doesn’t cover every ZIP, so I check yours.

Sources: CMS marketplace plan data for 2027 (QHP Landscape, individual medical, data.healthcare.gov, updated October 30, 2026); age 60, no subsidy; checked November 12, 2026.

What the 2027 plan data shows in Florida. The price checks above miss two Florida patterns. In 19 counties, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Orange and Miami-Dade among them, the lowest-priced gold plan for a 60-year-old costs less than the benchmark silver; in Hillsborough it’s about $1,354 against $1,461. And the Keys stand apart: Monroe County’s benchmark is about $3,224 a month with two insurers. If you’re paying full price, it’s worth checking gold first, and I’m happy to run that with you.

Sources: CMS marketplace plan data for 2027 (QHP Landscape, individual medical, data.healthcare.gov, updated October 30, 2026); age 60, no subsidy; checked November 12, 2026. See every county’s 2027 numbers.

If you lose job-based coverage in Florida. At employers with fewer than 20 workers, Florida's continuation law gives up to 18 months, and the insurer can charge up to 115% of the cost (Fla. Stat. 627.6692). Florida hasn't expanded Medicaid, so most adults without children can't qualify on income alone.

Sources: Fla. Stat. 627.6692; KFF; checked November 12, 2026.

More Florida rules that change the answer. Florida stretches the parent-plan age. Insured group plans must offer the option to keep a child on until the end of the year they turn 30, if the child is unmarried with no dependents, lives in Florida or is a student, and has no other coverage (Fla. Stat. 627.6562). Divorce or legal separation is also a qualifying event under Florida's small-employer continuation law.

Sources: Fla. Stat. 627.6562, 627.6692; checked November 12, 2026.

When you can enroll in Florida

Florida runs on the federal marketplace, so open enrollment generally runs from November 1 to mid-January for coverage that starts the following year. Miss that window and you're not necessarily stuck: a qualifying life event (losing job-based or other coverage, moving, marriage, a divorce that ends your coverage, or a new baby) can open a special enrollment period of about 60 days. Many private under-65 plans can also be applied for year-round, though approval may involve underwriting, so it isn't automatic. If you're outside open enrollment and unsure what you qualify for, here's how special enrollment works in Florida. Or just tell me your situation, and I'll map out which window applies to you.

Tampa Bay and Florida’s self-employed economy

I work out of the Tampa Bay area as an independent broker, and no state has more of the folks I work with. Florida runs on self-employment: the contractors and trades across Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville; the hospitality and service-business owners; the 1099 consultants and gig professionals; and the early retirees and pre-Medicare snowbirds who need health insurance until Medicare at 65. Florida also gets more than its share of hard-sell pitches, so a lot of my work here is just laying the real options out side by side, with no rush and no fine-print surprises.

Florida’s coast: Naples to Port St. Lucie

Tampa is home base, but I also help people in Naples, Sarasota-Bradenton, Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Port St. Lucie. That’s where many of Florida’s self-employed people and early retirees who earn over the subsidy line live. In 2025 Census figures, these coastal metros have some of the highest shares of working-age adults who buy their own coverage with household income above 400% of the poverty level, and in the Naples metro about 17% of workers are self-employed. A phone call works the same from any of them, and because plan networks can differ by county, I check yours against the doctors and hospitals near you.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 American Community Survey 1-year estimates by metro area (table B27016, direct-purchase coverage by income-to-poverty ratio; table B24080, class of worker). Estimates for smaller metros carry wider margins of error.

North Florida and the Panhandle: Jacksonville to Pensacola

North Florida works differently from Tampa Bay: prices, insurer counts and even how hurricane season plays out aren't the same up there.

• Jacksonville, Orange Park and the First Coast. The 2027 benchmark silver plan for a 60-year-old in Jacksonville is about $1,528 a month, up about 6%, and roughly 36,000 adults in the metro buy their own coverage while earning above four times the poverty level. If you want a health insurance broker in Jacksonville, Orange Park or St. Johns County, I work by phone the same as I do in Tampa, and I check networks against the hospitals you actually use on the First Coast.
• The Emerald Coast and Panhandle (Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City). About 14.5% of workers in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin metro are self-employed, the fifth-highest rate among Florida metros in the Census figures, after Naples, The Villages, Miami and Sebring. This fall also brought Hurricane Isaias: FEMA's major disaster declaration DR-4955 (incident period October 6 to 12, 2026) covers 15 Panhandle counties, including Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton and Bay. If the storm kept you from enrolling, how special enrollment works in Florida explains the disaster window and its deadline.
• Rural North Florida (Lake City and the I-75 corridor). Around Lake City the benchmark runs about $1,692 a month, roughly 16% more than Tampa, with three marketplace insurers. There's one upside, too, since a marketplace PPO is still available there for 2027.
• Tallahassee and Gainesville. The state capital and the University of Florida's hometown have two of the lowest self-employment shares among Florida metros, about 9% and 10%. When coverage comes up there, it's usually because a state, university or hospital job is ending; what to do when employer coverage ends lays out the order of decisions.

Central Florida, the Space Coast and Volusia

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford has about 96,000 adults who buy their own plan with household income above four times the poverty level, second in Florida only to South Florida, and a little ahead of the Tampa Bay area. East of there, the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach metro has about 14% of workers self-employed, and about 44% of its adults 26 to 64 are already 50 or older, against about 34% in Orlando, so the bridge to Medicare comes up a lot more on that side of the I-4 corridor. Over in Ocala, where about 13% of workers are self-employed but median household income is closer to $64,000, more households land inside the subsidy range, and the marketplace may be the right first stop.

Florida work that shapes the coverage question

• Charter captains, fishing guides and marine mechanics from the Keys to the Panhandle who work for themselves: self-employed health insurance in Florida.
• Cattle, citrus and horse-farm families from Marion County down through the Heartland: health insurance for farmers and ranchers.
• Travel and per diem nurses taking contracts at Florida hospital systems: coverage for travel and 1099 nurses.

Pensacola, Jacksonville and the state lines

Two Florida metros share a daily commute with another licensed state. In the west, Pensacola and Santa Rosa County trade workers with Mobile and Baldwin County, Alabama; both states use HealthCare.gov, so the difference is the plans and networks on each side, not the website. In the northeast, Nassau County and Jacksonville pull commuters from St. Marys and Kingsland in Camden County, Georgia, and Georgia residents enroll through Georgia Access instead. Your plan generally follows the state where you live, so start there, then confirm the network reaches across the line. See health insurance in Alabama or health insurance in Georgia.

Sources: MHS 2027 marketplace price checks (November 1, 2026; benchmark silver, one 60-year-old, no subsidy; see private health insurance cost by state). U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 American Community Survey 1-year estimates by metro area: B27016, B24080 (class of worker), B01001 (age), B19013 (median household income). FEMA DR-4955-FL designated areas (checked November 7, 2026). HealthCare.gov special enrollment period rules for natural disasters.

Health insurance in Florida if you're self-employed or earn over the subsidy line

The short answer: once your household income is above 400% of the federal poverty level, a Florida marketplace plan comes with no premium tax credit for 2027, so you pay its full price. For 2027 coverage that line is about $63,840 for one person and $86,560 for a married couple, based on the 2026 federal poverty guidelines from HHS (as of November 2026). Above it, a private under-65 plan is worth putting next to your marketplace quote, especially if you're healthy and want a PPO-style network.

• 2027 rates in Florida. As of November 2026, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved an average increase of about 10.4% for 2027 individual ACA plans. That's an average: your own renewal can land higher or lower depending on your plan, age and county.
• Who it hits here. About 1.5 million Floridians aged 55 to 64 have household incomes above four times the poverty level (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 American Community Survey), and about 676,000 self-employed people and small-business owners in Florida had marketplace coverage in 2023, according to a U.S. Treasury analysis of tax returns. For a lot of those households, one good year of income can decide whether any subsidy is left.
• How Florida is set up. Florida uses HealthCare.gov and has not expanded Medicaid (KFF). If your income is in the subsidy range, the marketplace is usually the right first stop, and I'll tell you that.
• Where to go next. Covering a spouse and kids on 1099 income? See health insurance for a self-employed family. Employer plan ending? Compare alternatives to COBRA or read how to stay covered between jobs. And for the income line itself, see how the 2027 ACA subsidy cliff works.

I answer my own phone here in Tampa, evenings and weekends included. If the marketplace or the plan you already have is the better fit, I'll say so and point you to the right help. Private plans are medically underwritten, so approval isn't automatic.

Figures as of November 2026. Sources: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (2027 average rate change); HHS 2026 poverty guidelines (400% line, multiplied out); U.S. Census Bureau 2025 American Community Survey; U.S. Treasury Office of Tax Analysis (2023 marketplace coverage of the self-employed); KFF (Medicaid expansion status).

Who I help across Florida

• Self-employed, 1099 contractors, and gig workers buying their own coverage
• Realtors and real estate agents, hospitality, and seasonal workers without an employer plan
• Snowbirds and seasonal residents who need coverage that travels
• Early retirees bridging the gap to Medicare at 65
• Families, individuals, and small business owners covering their teams
• Business owners who want health insurance for LLC and S-corp owners, for themselves and their families

Every plan I place is under-65 coverage: for the self-employed, families, and early retirees covering the years until Medicare eligibility at 65. Already 65 or shopping Medicare itself? I'll connect you with a Medicare specialist.

A local broker who's still there after you enroll

Florida's my home base, and as your Florida health insurance broker, I'm a Tampa health insurance advisor, not a 1-800 queue. I'm not tied to one carrier, so I compare your real options and tell you what fits you. You get one licensed advisor from start to finish. That's me, Ryan Michalek, NPN 21043091, licensed in 31 states including Florida. You can confirm my Florida license yourself: search NPN 21043091 on the Florida Department of Financial Services licensee search.