Ranked 11 of 17 states · median $773/mo · CMS PY2026
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A 40-year-old consultant in Mississippi pays a median $773/month for a Silver plan before subsidies — 11th of 17 on cost. The cheapest plan in the state is $598 from Oscar Health Plan in DeSoto. On counties covered, Mississippi ranks 9 of 17 for this occupation.
Once your work crosses county and state lines, network geography stops being a detail and becomes the whole decision. An HMO contracted in one metro leaves you paying cash 200 miles down the road, and a handful of states filed no PPO at all for 2026. These rankings lead with reach.
Occupational context: Travel fatigue; sedentary and irregular-schedule strain.
Worth being clear about what this does and does not affect: a carrier in Mississippi cannot ask what you do for a living, cannot charge a consultant more than a librarian of the same age in the same ZIP, and cannot exclude anything you were already treated for. Occupation only tells you which plan structure to shop for.
Premium is set by rating area rather than by county, so counties in the same area price identically. Six counties from across Mississippi, cheapest Silver plan for a 40-year-old:
| County | Cheapest Silver @40 | Issuer | Deductible | Carriers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holmes | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 3 |
| Lauderdale | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 3 |
| Monroe | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 4 |
| Prentiss | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 3 |
| Tishomingo | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 3 |
| Yalobusha | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 3 |
All six fall in the same rating area, so they price identically at $684. Statewide the range still runs $598 to $913. Coverage by County publishes all 82 Mississippi counties individually.
| Mississippi — network reach | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Counties in the state | 82 |
| Counties with only one carrier | 0 (0%) |
| Plan types available | EPO, HMO |
| PPO available on exchange | No |
| Carriers filing in the state | 5 |
| Cheapest Silver @40 | $598 — DeSoto |
Mississippi has no PPO plans on the exchange at all. For a consultant covering distance, that single fact outweighs premium: 0 of 82 counties here are served by one carrier, so an HMO bought in one metro may leave you out of network for the rest of your route.
Source: CMS Plan Year 2026 Qualified Health Plan Landscape file. 2,834 plan records across 82 Mississippi counties. Full-price filed rates before premium tax credits — verify at enrollment.
Cheaper for the same coverage: Oklahoma ($731), Kansas ($765), Tennessee ($773). More expensive: Florida ($789), Utah ($805), Texas ($807).
Side-by-side: Mississippi vs Kansas · Mississippi vs Tennessee · Mississippi vs Florida · Mississippi vs Utah
This only matters if you can actually choose — you buy in the state where you live, not where you work. If you are a consultant who moved this year, that move is a qualifying life event and opens a special enrollment period.
Deduction categories that generally fit this trade: Travel, home office, software, professional development. Note the ordering problem with health premiums: the §162(l) deduction lowers your AGI, and your AGI is what sets your premium tax credit, so the two calculate against each other. That is a CPA conversation and worth having before you enroll, not after.
If your household income is above the subsidy range, ACA is not automatically the answer. There are other categories of coverage that may fit, and they work very differently. That is a conversation, not a web page.
The BLS median wage for Management Analysts in Mississippi is $70,010 a year (May 2024). Starting pay — the 10th percentile — is about $43,930. The middle half earn $54,250 to $103,820, and the top 10% more than $163,000. BLS counts about 3,260 people doing this work for an employer in Mississippi. The self-employed are not in the BLS survey, so this is the going rate for the work, not your own number.
The cheapest Silver plan for a 40-year-old in Mississippi is $598 per month from Oscar Health Plan, with a state median of $773. Both figures are full price before premium tax credits; most buyers pay less after subsidies.
No. Mississippi exchange plans are guaranteed issue and community rated, so a consultant pays exactly what anyone else of the same age in the same ZIP pays. Occupation is not on the application as a rating factor.
No. Only EPO and HMO plans were filed for 2026.
Mississippi ranks 11 of 17 states covered here, at a median $773 per month. Indiana is cheapest at $558 and Nebraska is most expensive at $875.
Above the cliff. At this income a single-person household receives no premium tax credit for 2027 and pays the full premium.
This occupation is above the cliff in all 21 states reported.
What this figure is. It is the median annual wage BLS reports for Management Analysts (SOC 13-1111) in Mississippi. BLS surveys wage and salary workers and excludes the self-employed, so it is a benchmark for the occupation in this state — not the income of a self-employed consultant. Premium tax credit eligibility is set by household modified adjusted gross income and household size, not by occupation, so treat this as a reference point rather than a determination of what you qualify for.
Why the cliff is back. The enhanced premium tax credits expired on 31 December 2025. For plan year 2027 the 400% FPL limit applies again, so household income above $63,840 ends premium tax credit eligibility outright.
This page compares states. For Mississippi specifically — county-by-county carriers, plan data and enrollment help — I publish that on Coverage by County, including a page written for Consultants in Mississippi and a blog covering deductibles, subsidies and special enrollment.
The biggest change here is two carriers walking away. Cigna and Molina leave Mississippi’s individual market on January 1, 2027 — two of the 5 carriers writing in Mississippi today. Every consultant on a Cigna or Molina plan is moving, and doing nothing just means the marketplace chooses the replacement.
On price the only honest number today is national: the Peterson-KFF read of 2027 filings puts the median proposed rise near 15%, spanning −1% to 54%. Final Mississippi rates are not approved, so any precise 2027 figure quoted for this state is guesswork.
Enrollment opens November 1, 2026. Treat December 15 as the deadline: it guarantees January 1 cover on every marketplace, Mississippi included. Conflicting end dates get quoted because a 2025 rule shortened the window and a court vacated it in June 2026, appeal pending — enrol by the 15th and the argument is irrelevant to you.
One thing 2027 will not fix: no PPO is sold anywhere in Mississippi. All 82 counties offer EPO or HMO plans only, so care outside the network is effectively emergency-only. If your work as a consultant crosses county lines, weigh that above the premium.
If you are with Cigna or Molina, you already know you are changing plans — both are leaving. The only real question is whether you pick the replacement or the marketplace picks it for you, and that is a much easier decision made now than in the second week of December.
Enter a ZIP and a licensed agent will tell you three things:
Coverage for Consultants is priced county by county across Mississippi. Enter your ZIP and a licensed agent will show you what is on the table.
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