Best Cheap Health Insurance in Illinois (2023)

The cheapest Silver health insurance plan for most people is the Health Alliance 2023 POS 7250 Elite Silver. This is the cheapest option in 68% of the counties in Illinois. Alternatively, shoppers may find cheap health insurance with the Ambetter Clear Silver plan, which is the cheapest option in 13% of the counties.

Cheapest health insurance by plan tier

We compared monthly premiums from all Illinois plans to determine the most affordable health insurance policy available in each plan tier and help you get started finding the best policy for your preferred level of coverage.

The actual set of insurance companies and health plans offered will change depending on the county you live in, so those listed below may not be available where you live. But we recommend using these as a starting point to assess the benefits and cost sharing you can expect for a given level of coverage as compared to a policy's rates.

The actual cost of a health insurance plan in Illinois will be based on your age and the ages of family members covered by the policy.

For instance, if you're 21 years old, your health insurance rates would be 22% cheaper than what a 40-year-old would pay for the same tier of coverage. At the same time, 60-year-olds pay 112% higher rates than 40-year-olds.

This holds across all tiers of coverage, although the difference in price would be larger or smaller depending on the level of coverage chosen. For example, a 40-year-old would pay $104 more per month on average than a 21-year-old for a Bronze health plan but $122 more per month for an average Silver plan.

Finding the best health insurance coverage in Illinois

The set of available insurers changes by county, so the best health insurance plan available to you in Illinois will depend on where you live and your chosen level of coverage. Higher metal tier health plans, such as Gold policies, have more expensive monthly premiums but much lower out-of-pocket expenses, such as deductibles, copays and coinsurance.

So if you have costly prescriptions or are concerned about unpredictable costs during the year if you become ill, a higher metal tier plan will likely be your best health insurance choice. On the other hand, if you have a large emergency fund to cover cost sharing but no expected medical costs and want to keep your monthly rates down, a lower metal tier plan may be the cheapest.

Gold plans: Best if you have high expected medical costs

The cheapest Gold plan in Illinois is Molina Healthcare's Confident Care Gold 1 + Vision. Compare all tiers in Illinois above.

Gold health insurance plans have the lowest variable costs for medical care, such as deductibles and copays, that you'd need to cover before your policy would pay for health expenses. However, Gold plans also come with the most expensive monthly rates. These health plans are best if you have high expected medical costs, such as ongoing prescriptions, or are concerned about being able to pay out of pocket for an unexpected condition.

Silver plans: Best for low-income families or those with average medical costs

The cheapest Silver plan in Illinois is the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois Blue FocusCare Silver 210. Compare all tiers in Illinois above.

Silver health plans are a good middle ground between Bronze and Gold plans, combining affordable monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs. So, for instance, if you can't afford the rates of a Gold plan in Illinois but would have trouble covering the high deductible and copayments of a Bronze plan, a Silver plan may be the best alternative.

Medicaid is available for those with an income up to 138% of the federal poverty level because Illinois expanded its coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If you have a low income but earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, a Silver plan might be the most cost-effective option for health insurance coverage, as these policies are eligible for cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies.

Bronze and Catastrophic plans: Best if you're healthy and have emergency savings

The cheapest Bronze plan in Illinois is Ambetter's CMS Standard Bronze plan. Compare all tiers in Illinois above.

These policies have cheap monthly premiums for health insurance but much higher cost-sharing. So if you need medical care during the year, you have to pay more money out of pocket before coverage kicks in.

For instance, Ambetter's CMS Standard Bronze plan has a deductible of $9,100, which is much higher than the $1,900 deductible with the cheapest Gold plan. If you expect to have low medical expenses and can cover the high cost of care in the event of an emergency, a Bronze plan may be your best cheap option for health insurance coverage.

You can only qualify for Catastrophic health plans if you're under 30 years old or meet certain exemption requirements. You also cannot use a premium tax credit to reduce the cost of a Catastrophic plan. Bronze plans, on the other hand, are available to anyone and are eligible for premium tax credits.

Health insurance rate changes in Illinois

Health insurance rates are set by individual health insurers. Once the rates have been determined, they are sent to the federal health insurance exchange for approval.

For 2023, the average cost of health insurance across all plan tiers in Illinois increased by 4%. The largest jump was for Bronze plans, with prices increasing by 7%. Among other plan tiers, rates increased between 1% and 5% for 2023.

Short-term health insurance in Illinois

In Illinois, you can buy short-term health insurance from insurance providers outside of the state health insurance exchange. The state currently restricts short-term health insurance policy lengths to six months and prohibits renewals. In addition, you cannot buy a new short-term plan from the same insurer within 60 days of the end of your last short-term policy.

It is important to note that short-term health insurance plans typically do not cover the same benefits as ACA marketplace health policies. This could mean no coverage for the essential benefits and preexisting conditions.

Best cheap health insurance companies in Illinois

There are 10 health insurance companies on the Illinois state exchange, although all available insurers do not operate in every county.

We recommend beginning your search for the best health insurance with Health Alliance plans. These plans are offered in 83 counties, and in 69 counties, they include the cheapest Silver plans available.

Cheapest health insurance plan by county

The insurers and health plans offered on the Illinois health insurance marketplace will vary depending on the county where you reside. To help you find the best cheap health insurance policy for your family, we studied all plans in the state and identified the most affordable Silver plan in every county. Below, you can check out sample monthly rates for each of the health plans.

Average cost of health insurance by family size in Illinois

The amount you'll pay for a particular health insurance policy in Illinois is determined by the number of people covered and their ages. If you add your children to your health insurance plan, coverage for each child will cost a flat rate through the age of 14, after which their premium will increase with age. If your spouse is covered by your health insurance policy, their price is determined by age — just like your cost of coverage.

The cost of health insurance for your family will depend on the plan you choose, but the average cost to cover a family of three in Illinois with a Silver plan is $1,457 per month, assuming two 40-year-old parents and one child. The first child added to a plan raises one's monthly premium by an average of $336.

Similarly, adding a spouse to your Silver policy increases your monthly premium by $561 on average in Illinois, assuming they're 40 years old. If you're the same age, this would effectively double your monthly cost of health insurance.

Frequently asked questions

Methodology

Health insurance rates and plans in Illinois stated above can be found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) government website. Using the public use files (PUFs), premiums were averaged across a variety of factors such as plan 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 data set may not appear.