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Affordable Health Insurance in South Carolina: What Most People Don't Know
Five facts most South Carolinians learn the expensive way.
1. "Affordable" on the marketplace means subsidized
HealthCare.gov prices are designed to be offset by the premium tax credit. Without it, you're paying the full cost of a guaranteed-issue pool.
2. There's a second market
Private shared-network plans on Cigna, Aetna and PHCS PPO price on health instead of income. For healthy people above the subsidy line they're often half the price, with a PPO.
3. Your doctor probably takes the PPO, not the HMO
National PPO networks are what most employer plans use. Many doctors in Charleston and Columbia are in the Cigna, Aetna and PHCS PPO network and not in the narrow marketplace HMOs.
4. You can enroll in a private plan any month
No waiting for November. Apply by the 20th, coverage on the 1st.
5. The deduction applies either way
South Carolina has a state income tax, so the self-employed health premium deduction reduces both federal and state taxable income.
And one South Carolina-specific thing
South Carolina didn't expand Medicaid, and most marketplace plans here are narrow-network HMOs — which is why a national PPO is the thing self-employed buyers ask about first.
Check your options to see what affordable actually looks like for your situation.