Made too much for an ACA subsidy in 2026?

The enhanced premium tax credits that made Marketplace coverage cheap from 2021 through 2025 expired December 31, 2025. Two things happened as a result:

• The old 400%-of-poverty income cliff came back. Earn a dollar over it and you get zero subsidy — no gradual phase-out.
• Premiums for subsidized enrollees jumped sharply — more than double on average for people keeping the same plan.

Base premium tax credits still exist for households between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level. So the first question isn't "how do I replace my plan" — it's "am I actually over the line, or can I get back under it?"

Here's what most people miss: subsidy eligibility runs off your MAGI, and as a self-employed person, your MAGI is more flexible than a W-2 employee's. Before you assume you're over the cliff, look at the legitimate levers that lower it:

• Solo 401(k) or SEP-IRA contributions — pre-tax retirement savings come straight off your income.
• HSA contributions (if you're on an HSA-eligible plan) — another above-the-line reduction.
• Ordinary business deductions you may not be tracking tightly.

For a lot of self-employed people hovering just above 400% FPL, a well-timed retirement contribution is the difference between full price and a real subsidy. Run the numbers before open enrollment closes — this is the highest-return hour you'll spend all year.

If your income is high enough that no subsidy applies, the Marketplace isn't your only door. Depending on where you live, carriers may offer the same or a comparable ACA-compliant plan off-exchange — still guaranteed-issue, still covering the essential health benefits, sometimes on a network the Marketplace doesn't show.

What's actually available comes down to your state, your county, and which carriers are writing business there, so this is worth checking rather than assuming. When you weren't getting a subsidy anyway, you're not giving anything up by looking.

Start a free quote and a licensed agent will show you what's on and off the exchange where you live, side by side.

If you're healthy and paying full freight, the move most people overlook is a bronze, HSA-eligible high-deductible plan. Here's why it's the sophisticated play:

• Lowest premium of the comprehensive tiers.
• Real catastrophe protection — it still caps your out-of-pocket, so a serious accident or diagnosis can't wipe you out.
• A triple-tax-advantaged HSA — money goes in pre-tax, grows tax-free, and comes out tax-free for medical costs. After 65 you can pull it for anything without the penalty, so it doubles as a stealth retirement account.

For a healthy high earner, this combination often costs less net than a mid-tier plan while building a tax-advantaged asset. That's the opposite of throwing money away.

You've probably seen ads for cheap "plans" that promise to cover doctor visits, meds, and hospital stays for a fraction of an ACA premium. Read the fine print: most of those are fixed indemnity or limited benefit plans — and they generally have to tell you, right on the material, that they are not health insurance and not a substitute for comprehensive coverage.

Here's the truth an honest agent will give you: those plans pay a fixed cash amount — say $100 a day in the hospital — no matter how big your actual bill is. There's no out-of-pocket maximum. If you use one of these as your only coverage and something serious happens, you're on the hook for everything above those small fixed payouts.

That doesn't make them useless. It makes them a supplement, not a substitute. The legitimate play looks like this:

Anyone selling you indemnity-only as "health insurance" is either untrained or hoping you don't read.

• Indemnity-only as your health plan. See above. Not coverage.
• A year on a short-term plan as a "strategy." Short-term plans can exclude pre-existing conditions and are limited in how long they can run — fine for a genuine gap between jobs, wrong as a year-long plan.
• Betting on a subsidy that may not come back. There's a proposal in Congress to restore the enhanced credits, but it hasn't passed the Senate. Don't go uninsured hoping it does.

If you're self-employed and got hit by the subsidy cliff, you have more real options than the internet is telling you — you just have to separate the honest ones from the bait. Recheck your eligibility, manage your income where you can, and if you're truly over the line, structure a bronze + HSA plan and supplement it the right way.