Tree Service Contractors Health Insurance by State

BLS reports a median annual wage for Tree Trimmers and Pruners (SOC 37-3013) in 21 of the 21 states published here, ranging from $37,220 to $64,550. The 2026 premium tax credit cliff for a single-person household is $62,600; this occupation is above it in 1 of those states.

Which hospitals will your plan actually cover?

The federal median for tree service contractors is $47,800, clearing the 400% subsidy cliff in only 1 of the 21 states measured. So a premium tax credit probably features in your answer — and that is precisely where the search usually stops. A credit lowers what you pay monthly. It does not add a single hospital to the network, and the cheapest plan after the credit is very often the narrowest one available.

That median counts employees, not the self-employed. If you are 1099 it describes people doing your job on someone else’s payroll — useful as a reference point, not as your number.

Network participation is decided per plan, not per carrier. One insurer sells a broad-network plan and a narrow one side by side in the same county, and a hospital can be contracted with the first and not the second. That makes “does this carrier cover my hospital” unanswerable. The version with an answer is whether this specific plan, in your county, this plan year includes the facilities and doctors you use. A credit makes a narrow plan feel affordable, which is how people end up subsidised into a network that leaves out the hospital they use.

It takes about ten minutes to settle. Search the plan’s own provider directory for your named physicians rather than the hospital system; check the specific campus, because a system can include one site and exclude another; then call the billing office and read them the exact plan name, since that is how the contract is written. Re-check every plan year — these are renegotiated annually.

Look up a specific hospital system → — what each one means for the plans filed in its market.

Want cheaper coverage? Want better coverage? Not happy with what you have now? Same next step for all three — tell me your ZIP and the doctors you need covered.

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