PlansFor1099

Health insurance for 1099 refuse and recyclable material collectors

What a junk removal contractor pays for 2027 health insurance on a 1099: the BLS median ($45,710) against the $63,840 line, the deduction, networks.

Licensed Agents in 31 States · NPN #22052447

The short answer: BLS puts the national median pay for refuse and recyclable material collectors at $45,710 (May 2024; that series counts employees, so a 1099 junk removal contractor billing their own clients can sit well above or below it). $45,710 is $18,130 under the 2027 credit line for one person ($63,840). At that income the benchmark Silver plan is capped at 9.8% of income, about $373 a month, and the credit pays the rest of the benchmark price.

Two things make a 1099 junk removal contractor’s price different from an employee’s. First, there is no employer paying part of the premium, so the whole filed price, or the whole price after the credit, is yours. Second, the credit is measured on net income after business expenses, and the premium itself is deductible, which pulls that income down further. The page below walks through both, state by state.

Start with your ZIP and your income, not with a plan name

Premiums are set county by county and the credit is set by income, so no table can give a 1099 worker a final number. Enter your ZIP and a licensed agent prices every plan filed where you live against what you actually expect to earn.

Takes about 30 seconds. No account, and you choose how you are reached.

“I run my own business and my time is valuable. Daniel handled everything — compared the private options, explained what I was actually getting, and had me covered fast. Way better experience than trying to navigate it myself.”
Mark T., client

What the credit does at a junk removal contractor’s income

The 2027 premium tax credit caps what you pay for the benchmark Silver plan at a share of income, from 2.15% near the poverty line to 10.22% between 300% and 400% of it, and nothing at all above 400%: $63,840 for one person, $86,560 for a couple, $132,000 for a family of four. At the national median for refuse and recyclable material collectors:

Income here is modified adjusted gross income for the year: Schedule C profit after expenses, minus half of self-employment tax, minus the health insurance deduction itself. A junk removal contractor who grosses the median usually nets less, which moves the credit up. Estimate the net figure you would defend to the IRS in April, and update the marketplace mid-year if it moves: from the 2026 tax year on there is no cap on repaying credit you were advanced but did not qualify for.

The deduction a 1099 junk removal contractor gets and an employee does not

A self-employed person deducts health, dental and vision premiums for the household above the line (Form 7206, carried to Schedule 1), without itemizing, up to the net profit of the business, in any month there was no eligible employer plan available through a job or a spouse’s job. The deduction lowers taxable income and, because it lowers adjusted gross income, it also lowers the income the credit is measured on; the IRS publishes an iterative method for the two together. It does not reduce self-employment tax. A junk removal contractor with an S corporation takes the same deduction only if the corporation pays the premium and adds it to Box 1 of the W-2.

Illustration, not advice: a $600-a-month premium is $7,200 a year; at a 22% federal bracket that is roughly $1,584 less federal income tax, before any state effect. A tax professional owns the return.

Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors pay against the credit line, state by state

BLS median for refuse and recyclable material collectors in each state where it is published, whether that median clears the 2027 line for one person, the state’s median filed Silver premium at 40 (full price), and the monthly cap the credit would set at that income.

StateBLS medianCredit lineMedian Silver @40Benchmark cap
South Dakota$33,030under the line$812$194/mo cap
Mississippi$36,070under the line$851$233/mo cap
Arkansas$36,640under the line$780$241/mo cap
Oklahoma$36,850under the line$775$244/mo cap
South Carolina$37,380under the line$767$251/mo cap
Tennessee$38,570under the line$902$268/mo cap
Alabama$39,850under the line$782$287/mo cap
North Carolina$40,500under the line$866$296/mo cap
Kansas$42,540under the line$973$325/mo cap
Texas$45,710under the line$909$373/mo cap
Florida$46,890under the line$848$392/mo cap
Nebraska$47,490under the line$991$401/mo cap
Ohio$48,730under the line$692$415/mo cap
Utah$50,720under the line$916$432/mo cap
Indiana$59,260under the line$616$505/mo cap
Michigan$59,290under the line$774$505/mo cap
Wisconsin$60,390under the line$801$514/mo cap

Over the line at the state median in Nevada. The cap is the most the benchmark plan costs after the credit; cheaper plans cost less, dearer ones more. Where the median is over the line, the full filed price applies and the private market is usually the comparison worth making.

Where no marketplace plan is a PPO

In 11 of the 24 states on this site, every 2027 marketplace plan is an HMO, EPO or POS: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah. A junk removal contractor who travels, or who wants a hospital across a state line, buys a private plan with a national network there or accepts the network. The state pages show the plan types filed.