Head-to-head, from CMS Plan Year 2026 data.
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Ohio is the cheaper of the two: a 40-year-old pays about $625/month for the median Silver plan, versus $765 — a difference of $139/month (22%) before subsidies.
| Ohio | Kansas | |
|---|---|---|
| Median Silver @40 | $625 | $765 |
| Cheapest Silver @40 | $482 | $565 |
| Most expensive county @40 | $924 | $979 |
| Age 27 | $395 | $463 |
| Age 60 | $1,023 | $1,200 |
| Carriers | 11 | 6 |
| Counties | 88 | 105 |
| 1-carrier counties | 0 | 14 |
| Plan types | HMO | EPO |
Source: CMS Plan Year 2026 Qualified Health Plan Landscape. Full-price filed rates before premium tax credits; not a quote or an offer of coverage.
This page sets two states against each other. For county-by-county carriers, plan data and help actually enrolling, I publish a page for each state on Coverage by County: Ohio or Kansas. There is also a blog covering deductibles, subsidies and special enrollment periods.
Change the age or income and both states recalculate: the 2027 marketplace price after any tax credit, and the private plan estimate.
| Monthly, age 45, $85,000 | Ohio | Kansas |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace benchmark Silver, full price | $674 | $905 |
| Tax credit | none | none |
| You pay for the benchmark plan | $674 | $905 |
| Private plan estimate (low end: no deductible) | $275–$435 | $255–$475 |
At 45 on $85,000, the benchmark plan costs $2,766 a year more in Kansas than in Ohio, at full price in both, since that income is over the tax-credit line.
2027 estimates: KFF 2026 benchmark raised by each state’s average 2027 change, on the federal age curve; 2027 tax credit rules. Your county will differ. Every state at once: what you would pay in each state.
Put your ZIP code in and a licensed agent will show you the carriers filing in your county, what the cheapest plan costs, and what you would actually pay after any help you qualify for. No cost, and you talk to a licensed agent — not a call center.
You do not have to wait for the next open enrollment. A permanent move between these two opens a 60-day special enrollment period from the day you arrive, which is the window in which you would pick from the 6 carriers writing across Kansas’s 105 counties. Watch the fine print: qualifying coverage for at least one day in the preceding 60 is generally required, and a move for medical care or a vacation does not count.
Coverage does not port across the state line. Ending in Ohio and starting in Kansas is two separate transactions, and the plan you end up with in Kansas is priced on its own county, not on what you paid before.
Of the 11 carriers in Ohio and 6 in Kansas, UnitedHealthcare appears in both. That overlap is worth knowing if continuity of insurer matters to you, though the plan itself is new either way.
No PPO exists on either marketplace. Across 88 counties in Ohio and 105 in Kansas, every plan is an HMO, EPO or POS, which puts out-of-area routine care outside the benefit in both directions.
Splitting the year does not mean splitting the coverage. You can hold a marketplace plan only in your state of primary residence — the address you file from — not one in Ohio and another in Kansas. The cost lands on care received in whichever of the two you did not choose.
Neither Ohio nor Kansas has one price. Enter a ZIP and a licensed agent will pull the plans in that county and work out what help you qualify for.
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