Ranked 9 of 17 states · median $765/mo · CMS PY2026
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A 40-year-old interior designer in Kansas pays a median $765/month for a Silver plan before subsidies — 9th of 17 on cost. The cheapest plan in the state is $565 from Oscar in Anderson. On counties covered, Kansas ranks 2 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: Lifting strain; jobsite exposure during installs.
None of that changes your price. ACA plans in Kansas are community rated — premium varies by age, ZIP code, tobacco use and household size only. Your occupation cannot be used to rate you, decline you, or exclude a condition. What it changes is which plan design is the right bet.
Premium is set by rating area, so a interior designer in one Kansas 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheyenne | $746 | Ambetter from Sunflower | $6,000 | 2 |
| Logan | $746 | Ambetter from Sunflower | $6,000 | 2 |
| Rush | $746 | Ambetter from Sunflower | $6,000 | 2 |
| Trego | $746 | Ambetter from Sunflower | $6,000 | 2 |
| Hamilton | $882 | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas | $3,400 | 1 |
| Stevens | $882 | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas | $3,400 | 1 |
The spread across just these six is $136/month — $1,632 a year for the same metal tier. Statewide the range runs $565 to $979. Coverage by County publishes all 105 Kansas counties individually.
| Kansas — network reach | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Counties in the state | 105 |
| Counties with only one carrier | 14 (13%) |
| Plan types available | EPO |
| PPO available on exchange | No |
| Carriers filing in the state | 6 |
| Cheapest Silver @40 | $565 — Anderson |
Kansas has no PPO plans on the exchange at all. For a interior designer covering distance, that single fact outweighs premium: 14 of 105 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. 3,058 plan records across 105 Kansas counties. Full-price filed rates before premium tax credits — verify at enrollment.
Cheaper for the same coverage: Michigan ($708), South Dakota ($725), Oklahoma ($731). More expensive: Tennessee ($773), Mississippi ($773), Florida ($789).
Side-by-side: Kansas vs South Dakota · Kansas vs Oklahoma · Kansas vs Tennessee · Kansas vs Mississippi
A caveat on the table above: rating is by residence, not by job site. A interior designer living in Kansas and working across a state line still buys Kansas plans. A genuine permanent move does trigger a special enrollment period, but the plan year restarts with a fresh deductible.
If you file a Schedule C as a interior designer, the categories that usually show up are: Samples, software, vehicle, liability insurance. The health premium itself is normally an above-the-line deduction under IRC §162(l), which reduces AGI rather than requiring you to itemize. Your CPA should confirm it against your actual situation.
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 Interior Designers in Kansas is $54,400 a year (May 2024). Starting pay — the 10th percentile — is about $43,900. The middle half earn $47,610 to $67,870, and the top 10% more than $88,990. BLS counts about 430 people doing this work for an employer in Kansas. 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 Kansas is $565 per month from Oscar, with a state median of $765. Both figures are full price before premium tax credits; most buyers pay less after subsidies.
It cannot happen on an exchange plan. Rating in Kansas 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.
Kansas ranks 9 of 17 states covered here, at a median $765 per month. Indiana is cheapest at $558 and Nebraska is most expensive at $875.
Below the cliff. At this income a single-person household remains eligible for a premium tax credit in 2027.
This occupation sits above the cliff in 5 of the 23 states reported and below it in the other 18, so the answer changes with the state.
What this figure is. It is the median annual wage BLS reports for Interior Designers (SOC 27-1025) in Kansas. 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 interior designer. 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 Kansas specifically — county-by-county carriers, plan data and enrollment help — I publish that on Coverage by County, including a page written for Interior Designers in Kansas and a blog covering deductibles, subsidies and special enrollment.
Right now 6 carriers file plans across the 105 counties of Kansas. Participation is reset annually, which is why Interior Designers should check the roster in November rather than assume this year’s options carry over.
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 Kansas 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, Kansas 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.
There is still no PPO on the Kansas marketplace — not in any of its 105 counties. Every plan is an HMO, EPO or POS, which for an interior designer working across a wide area is the binding constraint, not price.
Because Kansas sells no PPO in any of its 105 counties, the thing that will decide your 2027 experience is which network your providers sit in — and that is far easier to check now than during the rush.
Enter a ZIP and a licensed agent will tell you three things:
Coverage for Interior Designers is priced county by county across Kansas. Enter your ZIP and a licensed agent will show you what is on the table.
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