Health insurance when you are paid on a 1099

The short answer: a 1099 worker buys health insurance with no employer paying a share, so the price is the filed rate for the county, the age and the household, minus a tax credit that depends on net income and disappears above $63,840 for one person in 2027. Across the 24 HealthCare.gov states on this site the median Silver premium for a 40-year-old runs from $604 a month in Iowa to $1,254 in West Virginia before any credit. At the BLS median, 19 of the 55 trades here sit over the line for a single person and pay full price; the rest are under it and the benchmark plan is capped at 2.15% to 10.22% of income.

What an employee never has to think about is the whole of this site: the credit on an income that moves, the deduction that lowers it, the repayment rule when the estimate is wrong, the states where no marketplace plan is a PPO, and the private market for the healthy person over the line. Every number is tied to the CMS plan files, BLS wage data and the IRS schedule, and the ZIP box on every page goes to a licensed agent, not a call center.

Start where your situation starts

The guides

• How health insurance works when you are paid on a 1099 — No employer plan, no employer share: where a 1099 worker buys coverage, what sets the price, the three 2027 numbers to know, and what a licensed agent actually does.
• The premium tax credit on 1099 income — How the 2027 premium tax credit is calculated for a self-employed person: the benchmark, the income cap from 2.15% to 10.22%, what counts as income on a Schedule C, advance payments, and repayment.
• Over the line: what a 1099 worker does above $63,840 — No premium tax credit above $63,840 for one person in 2027. The three routes a healthy 1099 worker compares: full-price marketplace, a private underwritten plan with a national network, and moving income back under the line.
• The self-employed health insurance deduction — How a 1099 worker deducts health, dental and vision premiums above the line: Form 7206, the net-profit limit, the months rule when a spouse has a plan, the S-corp route through Box 1, and the interaction with the credit.
• Estimating variable income for the credit — How a 1099 worker picks the income figure for the marketplace when the year is not known yet: net not gross, three estimating methods, the asymmetry of getting it wrong, and when to update.
• Health insurance in the first 1099 year — Leaving a W-2 job for 1099 work: the 60-day window after the employer plan ends, COBRA against the marketplace, the start-date rules, estimating income with no history, and the quarterly tax surprise.
• A 1099 worker with a spouse on an employer plan — When one spouse is on a 1099 and the other has an employer plan: the 10.22% family affordability test, when the 1099 spouse can still get the credit, what it does to the deduction, and how to compare.
• Networks for 1099 workers who travel — Truckers, travel nurses, consultants, realtors across county lines: what HMO, EPO, POS and PPO mean for care away from home, the eleven states with no marketplace PPO in 2027, and how to check a hospital.
• HSAs for 1099 workers — 2027 HSA limits ($4,500 / $9,000), which marketplace plans qualify (every Bronze for 2027), the triple tax advantage, the above-the-line deduction, and how a 1099 worker pairs an HSA with a high-deductible plan.
• 1099 vs W-2: what changes for health insurance — Side by side: who pays the premium, the deduction a 1099 worker gains and the pre-tax payroll deduction they lose, the credit, the enrollment windows, COBRA, and self-employment tax.

Who runs this

Plans For 1099 is the fourth of four reference sites run by Health Advisory, the agency of Daniel Griffin, a licensed independent health insurance agent (NPN 22052447) in Valrico, Florida. Coverage by County holds every plan by county, Plans By State compares states, Plans By City reads the insurers’ hospital files. This one is for the person with no employer plan and an income that moves. About · How the numbers are checked.