Health insurance brokers in Louisiana

• 296,648Louisianans selected a marketplace plan for 2026, slightly more than for 2025
• 195,759had that coverage in force in February, about 26 percent fewer than a year earlier
• $0what a Louisiana broker costs you, since carriers pay us

Louisiana's enrollment went up on paper and down in reality

296,648 Louisianans selected a marketplace plan for 2026, up about 1 percent from 292,994 for 2025. By February only 195,759 had coverage in force, down about 26 percent from a year earlier. KFF flagged Louisiana as having the largest divergence of any state between those two measures. Roughly two in three sign ups became active coverage.

The fix is not complicated. It is choosing a premium you can keep paying, getting the income estimate right so the subsidy is right, and confirming the first payment went through. About a third of Louisiana enrollees paid under $10 a month for 2026, so affordable coverage is often there to be had.

Louisiana is a Medicaid expansion state, and that shaped the market

Governor John Bel Edwards signed an executive order in January 2016 to expand Medicaid, with coverage effective no later than July 1, 2016. Louisiana is one of the few states where marketplace enrollment shrank after that. Sign ups were 214,148 for 2016 and fell to 83,159 by 2021, as lower income adults gained a Medicaid option. The market has rebuilt since, but it still sits on top of a large Medicaid program that covers about 1.5 million Louisianans.

That means the right answer for a lower income household in Louisiana is often Medicaid, not a marketplace plan. I will tell you when that is the case.

Medicaid work requirements start January 1, 2027

Under the 2025 federal budget law, expansion adults aged 19 to 64 who are not exempt must work, volunteer, or be in school or training an average of 80 hours a month to keep Medicaid starting in 2027. The Louisiana Department of Health expects the rule to apply to about 297,441 members, of whom about 86,564 already have verified earned income.

There is a trap here that most people have not heard about. If you lose or are denied Medicaid because of the work requirement, you are also not eligible for a marketplace subsidy. So if you are in the expansion group and not sure whether you are exempt, sort it out with Louisiana Medicaid before January rather than assuming the marketplace will catch you.

What changes for 2027

No major insurer has announced it is leaving the Louisiana marketplace for 2027, so there is no forced carrier switch here. Rates are going up, and given how many Louisianans lost coverage in 2026 over a price they did not see coming, I would open the renewal notice the day it arrives.

Open enrollment dates for 2027 coverage in Louisiana

Louisiana does not run its own exchange. It uses the federal marketplace at HealthCare.gov, so Louisiana follows the federal calendar.

• November 1, 2026Open enrollment begins for 2027 coverage
• December 15, 2026Last day to choose a plan that starts January 1, 2027
• January 15, 2027Open enrollment closes

Outside that window you need a qualifying life event. Losing job based coverage, moving, marriage, divorce, a new baby, adoption, or aging off a parent's plan at 26 each open a special enrollment period, usually 60 days. Losing Medicaid usually counts as well, but in Louisiana there is an important exception starting in 2027: losing Medicaid for not meeting the work requirement does not make you eligible for a marketplace subsidy.

Every 2027 change in Louisiana, carrier by carrier →

How to choose a health insurance broker in Louisiana

Anyone can put "broker" on a website. These are the questions that separate the real ones, and you can ask every one of them in a five minute phone call.

1. Verify the license before anything else

   Ask for the license number and the NPN, then look them up yourself. Louisiana agents can be checked through the Louisiana Department of Insurance producer search, and every agent in the country is searchable through the NAIC lookup. An agent who hesitates to give you those numbers has told you everything you need to know. Mine are on this page and on my license page.

2. Ask whether they are independent or captive

   A captive agent works for one insurance company and can only sell you that company's plans. An independent broker is appointed with many carriers and compares across them. Neither is dishonest, but only one of them can tell you when a competitor has the better plan for you.

3. Ask what it costs, and be suspicious of any answer other than nothing

   Brokers are paid by the insurance carriers. The premium is identical whether you enroll through a broker, on your own, or directly with the carrier. Nobody should charge you a fee to enroll you in an individual marketplace plan.

4. Ask how many carriers they can actually quote

   "We shop the whole market" is a slogan until someone puts a number on it. Ask which carriers they are appointed with in Louisiana, and ask them to show you the comparison rather than describe it.

5. Ask whether they will still be there in March

   Plenty of agents are enthusiastic in December and unreachable in the spring, which is exactly when a claim gets denied or a doctor turns out to be out of network. Ask who you call when something goes wrong. The answer should be a person, not a call center.

6. Read the reviews, and look at the dates

   A handful of genuine reviews spread over time tells you more than a wall of them that all landed in the same week. Mine are on my Google profile and they arrived one at a time, from clients who agreed to write one.

What working with me looks like

You tell me your ZIP code, who needs coverage, and roughly what you expect to earn this year. I check your subsidy eligibility properly, then compare the plans you qualify for side by side, with the real monthly cost after any subsidy is applied. You pick. I handle the enrollment paperwork, and I stay your point of contact afterward for claims questions, renewals, and life changes.

Most first conversations take about ten minutes. There is no cost and no obligation, and I am not going to pressure you into a plan, because a client who was pushed into the wrong coverage is a client who leaves.

Where I work in Louisiana

Statewide. Most of my work happens over the phone or a video call, so where you are in Louisiana changes nothing about the process.

• New Orleans
• Baton Rouge
• Shreveport
• Lafayette
• Lake Charles
• Kenner
• Bossier City
• Monroe
• Alexandria
• Houma
• Metairie
• Prairieville
• Slidell
• Central
• Ruston
• Hammond
• Sulphur
• Natchitoches
• Gretna
• Zachary

I am also licensed in 30 other states, so if you are moving or splitting time between two states, that usually is not a problem either.

Who I help most in Louisiana

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 7.7 percent of people in Louisiana had no health insurance in 2024, below the national rate of 8.2 percent.

Individuals and families buying their own coverage, self employed people and 1099 contractors, small business owners, people who just lost employer coverage, and early retirees bridging the gap to Medicare. In Louisiana a fair share of my conversations are about the line between Medicaid and the marketplace, which moves more often here than people expect.