Expect your marketplace plan to cost more next year (with fewer PPOs to pick from). Allison pointed to a proposed median marketplace rate increase of 15% for next year. She also cited a 58% average cost increase over the prior year as subsidy credits end, and a 37% jump in average deductibles. PPOs make up only 10.5% of marketplace plans, and New York, Georgia, Texas, Colorado, and New Hampshire offer none.

You can buy coverage the way Apple and Walmart do. Big employers fund their own claims to keep costs down. Solo Health uses that same self-funded model, and your business EIN gets you in without thousands of employees. Allison drew a clear line between Solo’s major medical coverage, which the Department of Insurance and ERISA regulate, and limited benefit plans, fixed indemnity plans, or health shares. It covers spouses, domestic partners, and kids, and you can add up to 10 employees.

Pick a plan where the deductible equals the out-of-pocket max and you’ll know your worst case on day one. Once you hit the deductible, Solo covers medical services at 100% with no co-insurance, so prescription co-pays are all you pay after that. Preventive care is covered at 100% from the start. Premiums don’t depend on income, so a good year won’t trigger a surprise tax bill the way marketplace subsidies can.

Choose the $2,500 or $5,000 deductible if you want an HSA. Every Solo plan is a high-deductible plan, and those two tiers meet IRS rules for a Health Savings Account, which gives you triple tax advantages on money you set aside for medical costs. The $10,000 option goes over the limit. You can open the HSA at any bank. Ask your accountant about deducting both your premiums and your HSA contributions.

Compare plans on a full year of cost and your worst-case year. Multiply the monthly premium by 12, confirm your doctors are in network, and run the numbers for a quiet year and a bad one against the out-of-pocket max. Solo runs on the Multiplan PHCS network today (a California search in the demo returned 548 primary care doctors), and emergencies carry no network limits or balance billing. A UnitedHealthcare network option arrives in 2027, and when a member asked, Allison estimated it will cost 10% to 15% more.

How to sign up? Solo has no enrollment window. Order by the 20th of any month and your coverage starts on the 1st of the next one. To check your doctors and get a quote, book a one-on-one call through our member page at heycounsel.solo.health. HeyCounsel does not receive anything for this. We’re just trying to make it easy and understandable for our members!