Indiana Health Insurance Broker Built Around Your Life

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

How health coverage works in Indiana

Indiana uses the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace for ACA plans, which are guaranteed-issue and subsidy-eligible if you qualify. But for healthy self-employed Hoosiers who earn too much for subsidies, private under-65 plans are worth comparing, often with PPO-style flexibility and year-round enrollment. I compare both and help you choose. For 2027, the marketplace in Indianapolis offers no PPO plans at any metal level, only HMO, EPO and POS plans (public marketplace quotes checked October 31, 2026). Can you still get a PPO in 2027?

Southern Indiana is part of the Louisville metro, the Lawrenceburg area sits in greater Cincinnati, and Northwest Indiana is part of greater Chicago. An individual plan generally follows the state you live in, so if home is across the line, see Kentucky, Ohio or Illinois health insurance.

What the 2027 plan data shows in Indiana. If you live in Clark or Floyd County, the Louisville side of Indiana, 2027 gives you one marketplace insurer and 18 plans, all HMOs. The benchmark silver for a 60-year-old there is about $1,343 a month, about 19% above Indianapolis and the highest in the state. Crawford, Harrison, Jefferson, Scott and Washington counties are in the same spot. Tell me your Louisville doctors and I’ll check.

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 Indiana. Federal COBRA covers employers with 20 or more workers; Indiana's small-employer continuation statute only works if the legislature funds it, so don't count on it, and ask the insurer in writing what you're offered. Indiana expanded Medicaid in 2015 as the Healthy Indiana Plan, which is worth checking if a layoff drops your income.

Sources: IC 27-8-15-31.1; KFF; checked November 12, 2026.

Indianapolis, the logistics corridor, and Indiana’s self-employed

Indiana sits at the crossroads of America’s freight network, and a lot of my Indiana work rides on it: the owner-operators, logistics contractors, and warehouse-and-distribution small businesses around Indianapolis and along the I-65 and I-70 corridors. Indy adds a growing tech and life-sciences scene (and the insurance industry around it), the RV and manufacturing towns up north around Elkhart run heavily on contract work, and the rest of the state is ag and the trades. For self-employed Hoosiers earning above the subsidy line, I lay the marketplace and private under-65 options side by side.

2027 in Indiana: what changed

• Insurers down from five to four. Two insurers left the Indiana marketplace for 2027 and one joined, and the final average rate increase is about 17.5%. Indianapolis still has four insurers; Kokomo went from four to three, and Vincennes from three to two, with 31 plans, down from 47.
• Calmer prices in the areas I checked. The benchmark silver plan for a 60-year-old rose less than the state average: about 12% in Indianapolis, to about $1,127 a month, about 13% in Kokomo and about 8% in Vincennes. Vincennes runs about 9% below Indianapolis, and Kokomo about 6% higher.
• No PPOs in the plans I checked. None of the 2027 marketplace plans in Indianapolis, Kokomo or Vincennes was a PPO.

2027 marketplace prices checked November 1, 2026. Benchmark silver = the second-lowest-cost silver marketplace plan, for a 60-year-old non-smoker with no subsidy. Insurer counts are the companies offering marketplace plans in that county when I checked; statewide counts and average rate changes are from the state insurance department. These are the 2027 prices shown for open enrollment, and yours depend on your ZIP, age and plan.

The Region to the Ohio River: Indiana, area by area

Ask a Hoosier where they're from and you'll hear "the Region," "Michiana" or "down by Evansville" before you hear a county. Each of those places brings its own coverage wrinkle.

• Indianapolis and the doughnut counties. Carmel, Fishers, Greenwood and Brownsburg ring the city. About 38 of every 100 adults aged 19 to 64 in the Indianapolis metro who buy their own coverage have household income at or above 400% of the poverty level (Census ACS 2025, table B27016), so a big share of the people shopping here pay the full $1,127-a-month benchmark at 60.
• Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana. The highest full-price share of the Indiana metros I track: about 46 of every 100 Fort Wayne-area adults who buy their own coverage are at or above 400% of the poverty level (same table). If that's you, it's worth putting a private under-65 plan next to your marketplace quote.
• Elkhart, South Bend and Michiana. RV builders and their suppliers keep wood-products work at about two and a half times its national share of Indiana's businesses with no paid employees (Census Nonemployer Statistics 2023, NAICS 321), and if you build, haul or service RVs on contract, you're likely the one buying your plan. Plenty of Michiana families live on the Michigan side of the line; for them, see Michigan health insurance.
• The Region, in Northwest Indiana. Gary, Hammond, Valparaiso and the commute into Chicago. Living in Lake or Porter County and working in Illinois still means an Indiana plan, so the network check is whether it reaches the Illinois doctors you use.
• Lafayette, Columbus and the plant towns. Indiana's WARN list this fall included closings or layoffs in Lafayette, Columbus, Gas City, Brownsburg, Elkhart and Logansport (Indiana Department of Workforce Development, through November 13, 2026). Columbus also has the largest share of people under 65 buying their own coverage among the Indiana metros I track, about 9.5 of every 100 (table B27005). If a job plan is ending, start with what to do when job-based coverage ends.
• Bloomington and Terre Haute. They're both university towns, but the people buying coverage look very different. In Bloomington only about 11 of every 100 adults who buy their own coverage are over 400% of poverty, so the subsidized marketplace is usually the first stop. Terre Haute skews older: about 38 of every 100 adults aged 26 to 64 there are 50 to 64, against about 36 nationally (table B01001), which means more early retirees pricing a bridge to Medicare.
• Evansville, Vincennes and Southern Indiana. Vincennes was the least expensive place I checked, about 9% below Indianapolis, but with only two insurers. Across the Wabash, towns in Illinois's Wabash Valley often use Vincennes for hospital care. Evansville shares a Tri-State with Henderson and Owensboro in Kentucky, and Clark and Floyd counties are Louisville suburbs, which is why Southern Indiana residents should double-check that a plan's network crosses the Ohio River with them.

How Hoosiers actually earn a living, and what it means for coverage

• Few small employers offer a plan. Only about 17 of every 100 Indiana firms with fewer than 50 employees offered health insurance in 2025, roughly half the national rate of about 32 (AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Insurance Component, via KFF). If you work for a small Indiana shop, odds are you're buying your own.
• Owner-operator truckers. Indiana employs heavy and tractor-trailer drivers at about 1.4 times the national rate (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025), and one-truck businesses are more common here than nationally too (Census Nonemployer Statistics 2023). See health insurance for independent truckers.
• Custom harvesters and ag service crews. Farm-support businesses, from custom spraying to harvesting crews, are about 1.7 times their national share of Indiana businesses with no paid employees (Census Nonemployer Statistics 2023, NAICS 115). Their income lands in a few big months; see health insurance for farmers with seasonal income.
• Commercial builders and the trades. One-person nonresidential building contractors run about one and a half times their national share here (same source, NAICS 2362). See coverage for contractors and tradespeople.
• Health-sharing members. About 26,800 Hoosiers belonged to a health care sharing ministry on January 1, 2026, roughly twice the national rate per resident (Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries). Sharing isn't insurance, and it's worth knowing the difference before a big bill; see how health care sharing ministries compare with insurance.

A self-employed health insurance broker in Indiana, for anyone over the subsidy line

The short answer: Indiana uses HealthCare.gov, and the subsidy line is federal. Above 400% of the poverty level there's no premium tax credit for 2027, so the full approved rate is yours to pay. For 2027 coverage that line is about $63,840 for one person or $86,560 for a couple, based on the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines (as of November 2026). Once you're over it, a private under-65 plan should sit right beside your HealthCare.gov quote.

• The approved 2027 increase. The Indiana Department of Insurance approved an average marketplace increase of 17.5% for 2027. Insurers had asked for 19.7%. Above the subsidy line, that whole increase lands on you.
• How Indiana is set up. Indiana expanded Medicaid (KFF), so lower-income Hoosiers have a route there. I don't handle Medicaid or marketplace enrollment, but I'll point you to the right help.
• Who's still paying full price. About 19,400 Hoosiers who picked a 2026 HealthCare.gov plan reported income above 400% of the poverty level, down from about 27,200 for 2025 (CMS Open Enrollment state-level public use files). Indiana's self-employment rate is about 7.5%, against about 9.9% nationally (Census ACS 2025, table B24080), so the people in this group are often small-business owners and early retirees rather than freelancers.
• Farm Bureau health plans. Indiana Farm Bureau offers its own medically underwritten health plan for members. See how it compares.
• Where to go next. Covering a family on self-employed income · COBRA alternatives when a job plan ends · what the 2027 subsidy cliff means for your income.

I answer my own phone, evenings and weekends included. If a marketplace plan or the coverage you have now is the better fit, I'll tell you that.

Figures as of November 2026. Sources: HHS 2026 poverty guidelines (400% line, multiplied out); Indiana Department of Insurance, 2027 ACA filings (requested and approved averages); KFF (Medicaid expansion status); CMS 2025 and 2026 Open Enrollment state-level public use files; Census ACS 2025 1-year tables B01001, B24080, B27005 and B27016; Census Nonemployer Statistics 2023; BLS OEWS May 2025; AHRQ MEPS-IC 2025 via KFF; Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries (January 1, 2026); Indiana DWD WARN notices.

Who I help across Indiana

• Self-employed workers and 1099 contractors who are on the hook for their own coverage
• Families and individuals shopping for a plan outside of work, from Indianapolis to small towns downstate
• Folks whose COBRA is about to run out, or who are between jobs and want coverage lined up
• Small business owners building a plan for themselves and their team
• Early retirees who need to bridge the years before Medicare starts
• Farm families and rural Hoosiers weighing a Farm Bureau health plan (how Indiana Farm Bureau health insurance compares)

Your Indiana broker after the paperwork is done

Independent means I compare your real options and recommend what fits you. You get one licensed advisor from start to finish, not a call center. I already work with clients in Indiana, from the Region to the river towns, and every one of them deals with me, Ryan Michalek, directly. Licensed in 31 states, including Indiana. (Ryan Michalek, NPN 21043091.) To verify my Indiana license on your own, use the Verify Agent/Agency License link on the Indiana Department of Insurance licensing page and search NPN 21043091.