Ranked 10 of 17 states · median $773/mo · CMS PY2026
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A 40-year-old consultant in Tennessee pays a median $773/month for a Silver plan before subsidies — 10th of 17 on cost. The cheapest plan in the state is $646 from Ambetter of Tennessee in Fayette. On counties covered, Tennessee ranks 4 of 17 for this occupation.
Coverage that only works where you sleep is not coverage if you spend the week elsewhere. The binding question is whether the plan pays out of area at all, and beyond emergencies many HMOs simply do not. States below are ordered by network reach, with the no-PPO states flagged.
Occupational context: Travel fatigue; sedentary and irregular-schedule strain.
This is background for choosing a plan, not for pricing one. Since 2014 every Tennessee exchange plan has been guaranteed issue and community rated: same age, same ZIP, same tobacco status means the same filed premium whether you are a consultant or an accountant. Occupation changes the shopping criteria, nothing else.
Premium is set by rating area, so a consultant in one Tennessee county can pay materially more than one an hour away. Six counties from across the state, cheapest Silver plan for a 40-year-old:
| County | Cheapest Silver @40 | Issuer | Deductible | Carriers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grainger | $669 | Ambetter of Tennessee | $6,000 | 4 |
| Roane | $669 | Ambetter of Tennessee | $6,000 | 4 |
| Hawkins | $678 | BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee | $8,100 | 4 |
| Franklin | $698 | Ambetter of Tennessee | $6,000 | 5 |
| Rhea | $698 | Ambetter of Tennessee | $6,000 | 5 |
| Dyer | $701 | BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee | $8,100 | 5 |
The spread across just these six is $32/month — $385 a year for the same metal tier. Statewide the range runs $646 to $1,001. Coverage by County publishes all 95 Tennessee counties individually.
| Tennessee — network reach | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Counties in the state | 95 |
| Counties with only one carrier | 0 (0%) |
| Plan types available | EPO |
| PPO available on exchange | No |
| Carriers filing in the state | 6 |
| Cheapest Silver @40 | $646 — Fayette |
Tennessee has no PPO plans on the exchange at all. For a consultant covering distance, that single fact outweighs premium: 0 of 95 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. 5,239 plan records across 95 Tennessee counties. Full-price filed rates before premium tax credits — verify at enrollment.
Cheaper for the same coverage: South Dakota ($725), Oklahoma ($731), Kansas ($765). More expensive: Mississippi ($773), Florida ($789), Utah ($805).
Side-by-side: Tennessee vs Oklahoma · Tennessee vs Kansas · Tennessee vs Mississippi · Tennessee vs Florida
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.
Expense categories that typically apply to this trade: Travel, home office, software, professional development. Premiums are generally deductible above the line under IRC §162(l) when no employer plan is available to you or your spouse — a question for your CPA, not your agent.
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 Tennessee is $97,410 a year (May 2024). Starting pay — the 10th percentile — is about $61,330. The middle half earn $74,960 to $122,170, and the top 10% more than $161,500. BLS counts about 12,750 people doing this work for an employer in Tennessee. 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 Tennessee is $646 per month from Ambetter of Tennessee, with a state median of $773. Both figures are full price before premium tax credits; most buyers pay less after subsidies.
It cannot happen on an exchange plan. Rating in Tennessee uses four inputs only: age, ZIP code, tobacco use and how many people are on the policy. Trade, injury history and pre-existing conditions are all excluded from pricing by law.
No. Only EPO plans were filed for 2026.
Tennessee ranks 10 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 Tennessee. 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 Tennessee specifically — county-by-county carriers, plan data and enrollment help — I publish that on Coverage by County, including a page written for Consultants in Tennessee and a blog covering deductibles, subsidies and special enrollment.
The biggest change here is a carrier walking away. Cigna leaves the ACA individual market on January 1, 2027 — one of the 6 carriers writing in Tennessee today. Every consultant on a Cigna 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 Tennessee 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, Tennessee 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 Tennessee. All 95 counties offer EPO 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.
You already know you are changing plans — Cigna is 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 Tennessee. Enter your ZIP and a licensed agent will show you what is on the table.
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