Ranked 12 of 15 states · median $807/mo · CMS PY2026
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A 40-year-old it consultant in Texas pays a median $807/month for a Silver plan before subsidies — 12th of 15 on cost. The cheapest plan in the state is $540 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas in Cameron. On cheapest Silver at age 27, Texas ranks 7 of 15 for this occupation.
Screen-based work skews younger and healthier, which is exactly the profile a high-deductible plan is built for. The risk is real — you carry the first several thousand dollars yourself — so the tables below show what a healthy buyer pays across the age curve, not just at 40.
Occupational context: Repetitive stress; irregular hours during deployments.
Worth being clear about what this does and does not affect: a carrier in Texas cannot ask what you do for a living, cannot charge a it 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, so a it consultant in one Texas 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fisher | $894 | Ambetter from Superior HealthPlan | $6,000 | 3 |
| Clay | $913 | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas | $4,000 | 1 |
| Irion | $920 | Ambetter from Superior HealthPlan | $6,000 | 3 |
| Sutton | $920 | Ambetter from Superior HealthPlan | $6,000 | 3 |
| Jones | $953 | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas | $4,000 | 2 |
| Cameron | $540 | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas | $1,500 | 5 |
The spread across just these six is $413/month — $4,960 a year for the same metal tier. Statewide the range runs $540 to $1,409. Coverage by County publishes all 254 Texas counties individually.
| Texas — the age curve | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Cheapest Silver @27 | $443 |
| Cheapest Silver @40 | $540 |
| Cheapest Silver @60 | $1,146 |
| Cheapest Bronze @40 | $385 — Imperial Insurance Companies |
| Bronze deductible | $9,200 |
| Lowest deductible in state | $350 |
A 27-year-old it consultant in Texas starts at $443; the same plan class at 60 starts at $1,146 — roughly 2.6× as much. If a Bronze plan here is HSA-qualified, the deduction plus low claim volume usually beats Silver on total annual cost. Confirm HSA eligibility on the plan document, not the metal tier.
Source: CMS Plan Year 2026 Qualified Health Plan Landscape file. 13,013 plan records across 254 Texas counties. Full-price filed rates before premium tax credits — verify at enrollment.
Cheaper for the same coverage: Kansas ($765), Florida ($789), Utah ($805). More expensive: North Carolina ($828), Arkansas ($828), Nebraska ($875).
Side-by-side: Texas vs Florida · Texas vs Utah · Texas vs North Carolina · Texas vs Arkansas
A caveat on the table above: rating is by residence, not by job site. A it consultant living in Texas and working across a state line still buys Texas plans. A genuine permanent move does trigger a special enrollment period, but the plan year restarts with a fresh deductible.
Deduction categories that generally fit this trade: Hardware, certifications, software, home office. 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 cheapest Silver plan for a 40-year-old in Texas is $540 per month from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, with a state median of $807. Both figures are full price before premium tax credits; most buyers pay less after subsidies.
No. Texas exchange plans are guaranteed issue and community rated, so a it 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 and POS plans were filed for 2026.
Texas ranks 12 of 15 states covered here, at a median $807 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 2026 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 Computer Systems Analysts (SOC 15-1211) in Texas. 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 it 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 2026 the 400% FPL limit applies again, so household income above $62,600 ends premium tax credit eligibility outright.
This page compares states. For Texas specifically — county-by-county carriers, plan data and enrollment help — I publish that on Coverage by County, including a page written for IT Consultants in Texas and a blog covering deductibles, subsidies and special enrollment.
One of Texas’s 15 carriers is leaving. Cigna exits the individual market entirely on January 1, 2027, so if you are an it consultant covered by them the question is not whether you switch but whether you choose the switch yourself.
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 Texas rates are not approved, so any precise 2027 figure quoted for this state is guesswork.
The window opens November 1, 2026, and December 15 is the date worth writing down — it is what secures January 1 cover in Texas and everywhere else. You will find later dates quoted; they stem from a 2025 rule that was vacated in June 2026 and is under appeal.
One thing 2027 will not fix: no PPO is sold anywhere in Texas. All 254 counties offer HMO, EPO or POS only, so care outside the network is effectively emergency-only. If your work as an it 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 in August than in the second week of December.
Give me a ZIP and I will tell you three things:
Rates for IT Consultants in Texas are set by county, not by occupation. Start with your ZIP and I will show you the plans actually filed where you live.