Health insurance brokers in Texas

• 4.2MTexans enrolled in a marketplace plan for 2026, up more than 200,000 year over year
• 16.5%of Texans are uninsured, the highest rate in the country
• $0what a broker costs you, in Texas and everywhere else

Texas went up while almost everyone else went down

Nationally, 2026 was a bad year for marketplace enrollment. The enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025 and sign ups fell in most states, sharply in some. Texas did the opposite. Close to 4.2 million Texans enrolled for 2026, an increase of more than 200,000 year over year.

The reason is a piece of Texas insurance regulation almost nobody outside the industry has heard of. Texas requires substantial silver loading, which means carriers load the cost of cost sharing reductions onto silver plan premiums. Because subsidies are calculated off the silver benchmark, inflating that benchmark inflates the subsidy. The practical effect for a lot of subsidized Texans is a bronze plan at or near $0 a month, and in some cases a gold plan for less than the silver one.

The other half of Texas, and it is not good news

Texas still has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, around 16.5 percent, more than double the national average of roughly 7.3 percent. That is over 5 million Texans without coverage.

Part of that is the coverage gap. Texas has not expanded Medicaid under the ACA, which leaves an estimated 617,000 to 920,000 adults earning too little to qualify for marketplace subsidies but not qualifying for Texas Medicaid either. If your income lands in that range, the honest answer is that the marketplace may not be your best route, and a broker who tells you otherwise is selling rather than advising. I will tell you if you are in that gap and point you at what does exist.

What changes for 2027, and Texas gets hit twice

Texas has more Cigna individual members to rehome than most states, and the fall notice will land in a market where a lot of people are on near zero premium bronze plans they picked once and never revisited. If that is you, the automatic replacement will be chosen on price and metal level. Nothing in that process checks whether your oncologist in Houston or your kids' pediatrician in Plano is still in network.

Texas is also losing a second carrier. Baylor Scott & White is exiting the individual market, affecting roughly 100,000 Texans, about 2.6 percent of the state's marketplace. Between the two, Texas has more people needing a new plan for 2027 than almost any other state.

If you are with either carrier, your renewal letter this fall is not junk mail. It is a decision with a deadline attached.

Open enrollment dates for 2027 coverage in Texas

Texas does not run its own exchange. It uses the federal marketplace at HealthCare.gov, so Texas 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. In Texas the most common ones I see are losing employer coverage after a layoff, a spouse's job change, aging off a parent's plan at 26, and a move between metro areas, which matters more here than in small states because provider networks are built county by county. A move from Austin to El Paso can change your options entirely. Most life events give you 60 days.

How to choose a health insurance broker in Texas

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. Texas agents can be checked through the Texas Department of Insurance agent lookup, 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 Texas, 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 Texas

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

• Houston
• San Antonio
• Dallas
• Austin
• Fort Worth
• El Paso
• Arlington
• Corpus Christi
• Plano
• Laredo
• Lubbock
• Irving
• Garland
• Amarillo
• McKinney
• Frisco
• Killeen
• Waco
• Midland
• Brownsville

I am also licensed in 23 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 Texas

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. Texas has more self employed and small business workers than almost anywhere, which is a large part of why the marketplace here is the size it is.