Guides

How health insurance works when you are paid on a 1099: the credit on variable income, the deduction, the $63,840 line, the first year, a spouse's plan, and networks for people who travel.

• 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.
• Health insurance as a sole proprietor — No entity, a Schedule C and a 1099 or two: how a sole proprietor buys coverage, takes the deduction up to net profit, estimates income for the credit, and when forming an S corporation changes the math.
• Health insurance for a single-member LLC — An LLC changes liability, not health insurance. What decides the premium's tax treatment is how the LLC is taxed: disregarded (Schedule C), S corporation (payroll and Box 1) or partnership.
• Health insurance for an S-corporation owner — The more-than-2% S-corp shareholder's route: the corporation pays, the premium goes in Box 1, the owner deducts it, the credit is measured on W-2 wages plus K-1 income, and HRAs are off the table for the owner.
• Health insurance for a partner — Premiums paid for a partner are guaranteed payments: income to the partner and deductible above the line on the partner's return. How it works, what counts for the credit, and the one-partner-with-staff case.