Ranked 11 of 17 states · median $773/mo · CMS PY2026
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A 40-year-old landscape contractor 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 highest out-of-pocket maximum, Mississippi ranks 16 of 17 for this occupation.
For work with real injury exposure the premium is the wrong headline number. What decides a bad year is the annual out-of-pocket maximum — the ceiling you stop paying at. A fall, a fracture, an imaging series and a course of physical therapy will reach that ceiling on any metal tier, so the states below are ordered by worst-case exposure.
Occupational context: Heat illness; equipment injury; pesticide exposure.
This is background for choosing a plan, not for pricing one. Since 2014 every Mississippi 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 landscape contractor or an accountant. Occupation changes the shopping criteria, nothing else.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carroll | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 3 |
| Covington | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 4 |
| Jefferson | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 3 |
| Lincoln | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 3 |
| Noxubee | $684 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health | $6,000 | 2 |
| Smith | $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 — worst-case exposure | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Lowest annual out-of-pocket maximum | $7,250 |
| Highest annual out-of-pocket maximum | $10,600 |
| Cheapest Gold plan @40 | $812 — Ambetter from Magnolia Health |
| Gold deductible | $2,000 |
| Cheapest Silver @40 | $598 — Oscar Health Plan |
| Cheapest Silver @50 | $836 |
For a landscape contractor, the gap between $7,250 and $10,600 in annual out-of-pocket maximum is worth more than any premium difference on this page. One serious injury reaches that ceiling regardless of which plan you picked.
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 landscape contractor who moved this year, that move is a qualifying life event and opens a special enrollment period.
Self-employed Landscape Contractors in Mississippi typically deduct: Equipment, truck, trailer, materials, licensing. Health premiums sit separately, above the line under IRC §162(l), and only when neither you nor a spouse could have joined an employer plan — eligibility disqualifies you even if you declined the coverage.
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 Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mississippi is $30,840 a year (May 2024). Starting pay — the 10th percentile — is about $22,150. The middle half earn $26,920 to $37,290, and the top 10% more than $44,990. BLS counts about 5,000 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.
It cannot happen on an exchange plan. Rating in Mississippi 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 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.
Below the cliff. At this income a single-person household remains eligible for a premium tax credit in 2027.
This occupation is below the cliff in all 23 states reported.
What this figure is. It is the median annual wage BLS reports for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers (SOC 37-3011) 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 landscape contractor. 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 Landscape Contractors 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 landscape contractor 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.
Mark November 1, 2026 to open and December 15 to act. That second date guarantees cover from January 1 in Mississippi regardless of how the current litigation over the enrollment window resolves.
There is still no PPO on the Mississippi marketplace — not in any of its 82 counties. Every plan is an EPO or HMO, which for a landscape contractor working across a wide area is the binding constraint, not price.
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:
The sticker price is rarely what Landscape Contractors in Mississippi end up paying. Start with a ZIP and a licensed agent will work out your actual number.
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