Kentucky's kynect marketplace offers HMOs exclusively, but you can still arrange a nationwide PPO through me. I'll walk you through what limited insurer choices mean when you're a real estate agent who already has doctors you want to keep seeing.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I help Kentucky real estate agents arrange health insurance by phone, from Louisville's East End to Bowling Green, Paducah and beyond. I'm licensed as a broker in 36 states, and Kentucky is among the states I serve.
Consider a Louisville real estate agent who's called the city home for twenty years. She has a longtime family physician, a dermatologist she's trusted since her thirties, and a son with asthma who visits a pulmonologist on the other side of town. When she starts shopping on kynect, Kentucky's state exchange, she naturally wants coverage that includes all three doctors. Instead, she discovers that Jefferson County has HMOs offered by only two insurers. Worse, the doctors her family relies on aren't all in the same network, leaving her with a difficult choice.
That limited choice of provider networks is exactly the Kentucky coverage problem I want to help you understand here.
kynect offers 85 individual medical plans for 2026, all HMOs. Three insurers participate statewide, and no county has more than three insurers. There are no PPO choices on kynect.
You aren't limited to kynect if you want a PPO. I can arrange a private nationwide PPO in Kentucky, with premiums based on answers to a medical questionnaire. The provider network extends across state lines, so your dermatologist in Louisville, a specialist in Cincinnati, and an urgent care provider near the beach can all be treated as in-network providers.
Most HMOs require your primary care physician to manage specialist referrals, and they generally won't cover treatment outside the network except during emergencies. When only two insurers serve your county, you're essentially comparing two sets of participating doctors. If your family physician belongs to one network while the specialists your household depends on belong to the other, there may be no kynect plan that includes all those providers for ordinary appointments. That's why checking the actual networks matters more than simply counting how many plans appear on the exchange.
Lexington agents have a little more choice because Fayette County offers three insurers instead of two. Still, the process for checking your doctors doesn't change. Here's what I'd do:
If everyone is included, a kynect HMO could work. If an essential doctor isn't, consider pricing a nationwide PPO.
Once your income is beyond the range for kynect's premium tax credit, you're paying the full premium for an HMO, even if it excludes a doctor your family needs. That's when private PPO coverage often becomes more appealing. The insurer reviews medical information for everyone applying and may approve the coverage as requested, decline the application, or approve it with an exclusion for a particular condition. Households in good health frequently find that private PPO premiums come in below kynect's unsubsidized prices, making the comparison especially worthwhile.
Next step: Give me your county and the doctors your household wants to keep. I'll compare the kynect networks provider by provider, then show you how those choices stack up against a private PPO quote.
A kynect HMO is generally the lower-cost choice when you're eligible for the tax credit. The next step is selecting the network that covers your family's most important doctors. Just remember that commission income can jump unexpectedly after a strong closing. Beginning in 2026, any excess premium credit must be repaid in full at tax time. Update your kynect income estimate whenever a significant closing changes what you expect to earn.
Next step: Tell me about your completed and pending closings. We'll estimate your income and choose a network that suits your household.
When someone in your household needs ongoing treatment, I'd begin with the network that includes their specialist. After that, we'd see how the other family members' doctors fit. A private PPO might also be an option for your son, depending on his medical details, so I'll compare pricing for that possibility too.
Next step: Give me the specialist's name and your medications. I'll check which kynect networks in your county cover them.
Kentucky expanded Medicaid, and KFF identifies 138% of the federal poverty level as the adult income threshold. That can matter for a newly licensed agent or someone going through a stretch without closings. You can't combine Medicaid eligibility with kynect's premium tax credit. If your commissions later increase enough to move your annual income above the Medicaid threshold, you'll need to transition to different coverage.
Fayette County benefits from a third insurer, but the network question remains. Your family's established doctors may belong to a particular health system that participates in just one kynect network. Checking the actual providers is more useful than relying on brochures.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Jefferson County has two for 2026, while the statewide county maximum is three.
No. Each of kynect's 85 individual medical plans is an HMO. Agents in good health can still purchase a nationwide PPO privately, and I can arrange that coverage.
No. Kentucky operates its own state health insurance exchange, which is called kynect.
Possibly. Kentucky has expanded Medicaid, and according to KFF, the income limit for adults is 138% of the federal poverty level.
Tell me which county you live in, who your household's doctors are, and approximately how much net commission you earned last year. I'll check those providers against every kynect network in your county and compare the results with a private PPO quote.
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