A nationwide PPO is still an option in North Carolina, including the Triangle counties where you won't find one on the marketplace. Let me walk you through how nurses based around Raleigh and Durham can stay insured on assignments and during the breaks between them.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I hold health insurance broker licenses in 36 states, helping travel nurses get coverage they can keep between assignments. Whether you're working locally or across the country, we can handle everything over the phone.
Think about a nurse whose career started at a major hospital system around Chapel Hill and Durham before she began traveling. Her house near Hillandale Road is still home, and her partner continues working locally, so moving isn't an option. Her assignments this year take her first to Phoenix, then Boston, with Denver possibly coming afterward. She returns to Durham for several weeks between those contracts. The problem is that her agency insurance ends whenever an assignment finishes, leaving her to arrange coverage again. When she checks marketplace plans using her Durham home address, she discovers that not a single PPO is available. That's a difficult setup for someone whose work regularly takes her across state lines.
For 2026, North Carolina's marketplace offers 206 individual medical plans, including nine PPOs issued by just one insurer across 90 of its 100 counties. The remaining ten counties, all in or around the Triangle, are Wake, Durham, Orange, Chatham, Johnston, Franklin, Person, Alamance, Caswell and Lee. Durham residents specifically can choose among 31 plans offered by three insurers, consisting of 22 HMOs and 9 EPOs, with no PPO available through the marketplace.
Even with a home address in the Triangle, I can help you apply for a nationwide PPO in North Carolina. This is private coverage with pricing determined through a health questionnaire, and the network includes providers both where you live and in the cities where your nursing contracts take you.
Your marketplace premium credit is calculated using your household's income across the entire year, with eligibility extending up to four times the federal poverty level. For travel nurses, earnings aren't always consistent. Assignment stipends, breaks between contracts, summer vacations and 1099 income can all affect the final figure. Build your estimate around confirmed assignments and the contracts you anticipate taking, then revise those numbers whenever you sign another contract.
I hear this situation from travel nurses more than almost anything else. Once your employment-based insurance ends, you generally have a 60-day special enrollment period to select marketplace coverage. You could continue your agency insurance through COBRA, but voluntarily canceling it afterward or missing payments doesn't give you another enrollment opportunity. It's important to understand both choices before deciding whether to elect COBRA.
Short-term insurance may come up when you're looking for temporary coverage between assignments. North Carolina's insurance department explained in 2025 that these policies remain subject to the current federal definition, despite reduced federal enforcement. Before relying on a short-term policy to fill your coverage gap, make sure you've carefully reviewed exactly what its terms provide.
When you personally own the policy, that cycle goes away because your coverage continues even after an assignment finishes.
Next step: Give me a call before you work your final shift, and we'll arrange insurance to carry you through the time between assignments.
Suppose you're working a 13-week assignment in Arizona but your insurance is a Durham HMO. Outside their networks, HMOs and EPOs generally cover emergencies rather than everyday medical visits. That means treatment for a sinus infection, an ankle sprain or a prescription refill could become your responsibility while you're away. If you're a healthy travel nurse whose earnings put marketplace credits out of reach, a private policy using a nationwide PPO network becomes especially worth considering because you can access care where your contracts take you.
Applying means completing a medical questionnaire. The insurer uses your answers to decide whether to accept you, accept you while excluding a particular condition, or decline coverage altogether. Benefits vary by policy, so I'll review the details with you individually before you make your decision.
Next step: Schedule a phone call with me, and we'll compare what a nationwide PPO would cost against the full marketplace premium for coverage using your Durham home address.
Perhaps you've taken several months away from traveling or worked occasional per diem shifts locally while waiting for another assignment. When your annual income falls within the premium credit limits, marketplace insurance will generally be your most affordable choice. The catch in the Triangle is that your options remain HMOs and EPOs. You'll want to arrange regular appointments during your time at home and understand the limits of your network before heading out of state again.
Next step: Share the dates of your assignments with me, and I'll use that schedule to estimate your income and help choose coverage suited to your entire year.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
No. During 2026, you won't find a marketplace PPO in Wake, Durham, Orange or the seven surrounding counties. The available coverage consists of HMOs and EPOs instead.
In most cases, emergencies are the exception that gets covered, since HMOs and EPOs generally don't pay for care outside their networks otherwise.
According to a state insurance bulletin issued in 2025, short-term coverage in North Carolina remains subject to the current federal definition. Make sure you examine the policy terms carefully.
Yes. Healthy nurses can get private coverage through me, even when their home address is in the Triangle.
Tell me which county you call home, when your contracts start and finish this year, and which state you're visiting for your next assignment. I'll walk you through keeping insurance between jobs and show you the price of coverage you can actually use while traveling.
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