The average cost of health insurance is $559 per month for a 40-year-old in Florida. If you’re looking for your best health insurance plan, you can find many affordable options on the Florida health insurance marketplace.

Ambetter offers the best rates in most counties in Florida. Shoppers may begin by looking at the Ambetter Balanced Care 30 plan, which has the cheapest rates in 36% of Florida's counties.

Cheapest health insurance by metal tier

We compared the health insurance plans available on the Florida marketplace and identified the cheapest policy in each metal tier to help you find the best option for your chosen level of coverage. Aside from the level of coverage you choose, one of the most significant factors in determining health insurance rates is the age of each person insured.

As you can see above, a 21-year-old will receive 28% cheaper prices for health insurance in Florida than a 40-year-old. A 60-year-old would pay 112% higher monthly premiums.

The best health insurance plans you can choose from will vary by the county you live in, and not all of those listed below are available in every county. We recommend using these as a starting point when assessing the benefits and out-of-pocket costs you can expect from a health plan, as compared to monthly premiums.

Finding your best health insurance plans in Florida

Remember, premiums are not the only cost component when it comes to your health care. Out-of-pocket costs in the form of deductibles, copays and coinsurance are just as important to compare when you shop because these amounts will determine how much you spend on medical care.

Households with higher expected medical costs should opt for plans with higher cost-sharing benefits. In contrast, those who expect to be relatively healthy or need little to no routine care should look toward cheaper plans.

Average consumers should start by browsing Silver plans

Unless you’re extremely healthy or know you’ll have significant medical expenses, we advise beginning your shopping process by looking at the Silver metal tier health insurance plans. These plans occupy a middle ground between monthly premiums and the cost-sharing responsibilities that you will incur with any medical expenses.

In this case, these plans can actually offer more benefits than higher-priced Gold and Platinum plans but at a much lower premium.

Younger and healthier households can look to Bronze and Catastrophic plans

Bronze and Catastrophic plans will have the lowest premiums available, but the downside is they have high deductibles. Many plans in these metal tiers will have their cost sharing near the maximum limits, meaning that you will first need to spend thousands of dollars before many of the plan's benefits kick in.

These types of health insurance policies only make sense if you want coverage for costly emergencies and have little to no need for routine care. Catastrophic plans are available to those under age 30, and for those over 30, you'll need a hardship exemption to be eligible. Keep in mind that all metal tiers except Catastrophic are eligible for premium tax credits.

Health insurance rate changes in Florida

Health insurance rates, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums are set yearly by health insurance companies. The plans are then sent to the federal exchange to be approved for the following plan year.

The largest price increase was for Platinum plans, which cost 9% more in 2022. Gold, Bronze and Expanded Bronze plans increased between 5% to 7%. Silver and Catastrophic plans had the smallest change, increasing 2% to 3% between 2021 and 2022.

Short-term health insurance in Florida

Florida follows the regulations set by federal guidelines for short-term health insurance. This allows for the plans to provide coverage for up to 12 months and be renewable for up to 36 months. Furthermore, short-term plans do not need to cover the essential benefits that all Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans must cover.

You may want to consider purchasing short-term health insurance if you lose employer-sponsored coverage or miss open enrollment for an ACA marketplace policy. However, it is important to note that short-term plans require medical underwriting and typically do not provide coverage for preexisting conditions.

Best cheap health insurance companies in Florida

Ten health insurance providers currently offer plans on the Florida marketplace.

Florida health insurance companies

In 2022, HealthFirst offers the cheapest health insurance for Gold, Silver, Expanded Bronze and Catastrophic plans. BlueSelect has the most affordable rates for Platinum, and Molina has the best rates for Bronze plans.

Cheapest health insurance plan by county

As mentioned above, we advise shoppers to begin their insurance buying process by looking at Silver plans. To help you, we’ve listed the cheapest Silver health plan for each Florida county, as well as sample prices for families of different sizes.

These premium estimates are unsubsidized. Depending on your income, you will likely see even lower prices once you account for the tax credits.

Recap of the best cheap health insurance in Florida

Frequently asked questions

Methodology

Health insurance premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums for Florida were compiled through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) government website. ValuePenguin used the Public Use Files (PUF) to calculate average premiums by metal tier, county and family size. Plans and providers for which county-level data was included in the CMS’ Crosswalk file were used in our analysis; those excluded from this dataset may not appear.