Health insurance for Maryland government contractors who travel: what the marketplace PPO really costs

Sam Jaber, Licensed Health Insurance Advisor · Updated October 2026
NPN 20698748 · Licensed in 31 states, Maryland among them

In short: Maryland Health Connection sells a PPO in every county, but at starting prices it runs about 64% above the least expensive silver plan. Contract with benefits just ended? Continuation and a 60-day window come first. With a credit, a marketplace plan usually costs least. Above the line and healthy, price an underwritten national PPO plan.

Head to your situation: A contract just ended · Credit range · Above the line · Healthy and traveling · Health condition

Your work is federal, but your clients are spread out. You might be a cleared consultant billing through your own LLC, a 1099 engineer on a program office contract, or an analyst who spends a week a month at a base or field office in another state. Between contracts, nobody is handing you a benefits package, and the plan you pick has to make sense from Annapolis to wherever the next site visit is.

Maryland runs its own marketplace, Maryland Health Connection, and it does sell a PPO. For 2026 one company offers PPO medical plans there, and federal plan files show them in every Maryland county. Measured at each plan's statewide starting premium for a 40-year-old, before any credit, its least expensive silver PPO began at about $659 a month. The lowest-cost silver plan from any insurer began at about $403, which makes the PPO about 64% higher. The same company's own HMO silver plan started at about $446, so the PPO ran about 48% above that too.

Statewide starting prices for one age, before credits. They describe the market, not your county or household.

The rest of the market moved less than in most states this year. KFF's benchmark for a 40-year-old in Maryland, the second-lowest-cost silver plan, went from $365 a month in 2025 to $414 in 2026, about 13.4%. So the PPO gap is not a one-year spike. It is built into how that plan is priced, and it is the part a traveling contractor runs into.

If a contract with benefits just ended

If you move between W-2 work at a prime and your own 1099 work, the end of a contract can end your employer plan too. When that happens, Maryland's state continuation law generally lets you keep a fully insured group plan for up to 18 months. If that old plan used a PPO network, continuation is a way to keep it while you sort out what comes next, though you usually pay the full premium yourself.

Losing the employer plan also opens a 60-day window to enroll through Maryland Health Connection. What Maryland does not offer is a long stopgap: state law limits short-term plans to three months with no renewal. If the next contract is uncertain, compare continuation, a marketplace plan and, if you are healthy, an underwritten plan before the 60 days are up.

If your income is in the credit range

Below 400% of the poverty level, the federal tax credit lowers your premium on Maryland Health Connection, and for 2026 Maryland adds its own state premium assistance for enrollees up to that same line. In that range a marketplace plan is usually the most affordable way to be covered, because neither form of help applies to plans sold outside the marketplace.

The traveling contractor's question here is whether the PPO is worth the step up. At statewide starting prices, the PPO cost about $213 a month more than the same company's HMO for a 40-year-old. The federal credit is sized from a benchmark silver plan, so choosing the PPO means paying that difference yourself. If you are out of state a few days a month, an HMO plus the federal emergency rule, which covers out-of-network emergency care at in-network cost, may be enough. If you are away for weeks at a time, price both. Contractors near the 400% line face a separate problem, which our guide to Maryland's 400% line covers.

If you're above the credit line

For 2027 coverage, chosen in open enrollment from November 1, the federal credit ends above 400% of the poverty level, $63,840 for a single person; for 2026, both the federal credit and Maryland's assistance drop away above $62,600. From that point you pay the full Maryland Health Connection price.

Maryland's full prices are lower than in many states, but the PPO is still priced about 64% above the least expensive silver plan at starting prices. For a contractor who needs care to work in other states, paying full price for an HMO built around Maryland providers buys mostly emergency coverage on the road, and paying full price for the PPO is usually more than the budget wants to carry. What makes sense next depends on your health.

If you're healthy and on the road

Healthy contractors above the line should price a different kind of plan: private health plans that use medical underwriting and are built on PPO networks with providers across the country. They are sold outside Maryland Health Connection, so the marketplace PPO's price has no bearing on theirs.

• There is a health application. The insurer asks about your medical history and can accept you, turn you down, or exclude a condition you already have.
• That review is what can lower the price. A healthy contractor may come in below the full marketplace price. A quote is the only way to find out.
• Search the network where you work. Look up providers near the bases, agency offices and client sites you visit most, and near home.
• Benefits are set by the plan. These are not marketplace plans, so read what is covered. What medical underwriting means explains the process.

If you're managing a health condition

With an ongoing condition or a costly medication, keep a Maryland Health Connection plan, even at full price. Marketplace plans have to take you and cannot charge more because of your health. An underwritten plan could decline you or carve out the condition you need covered.

For you, the marketplace PPO deserves a real comparison. It is sold in every Maryland county and must accept every applicant, and its premium over the same company's HMO is what you pay for the wider network. Check both against your specialists before deciding.

Which describes you?

Find your row. Each one leads to a quick conversation, because contract dates, household income and health answer this faster than a table.

The Maryland guide for self-employed buyers covers the state's other rules, and consultants based elsewhere meet a similar PPO price problem in our Illinois consultant guide.

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