Best Cheap Health Insurance in Kentucky (2023)

In Kentucky, the state health insurance exchange and Medicaid offer cheap health insurance plans for residents, although the best policy for you depends on your medical needs and financial situation.

The Ambetter Clear Silver plan is the cheapest Silver plan in 49% of counties in Kentucky.

Cheapest health insurance by metal tier

We compared Kentucky health insurance plans by metal tier and identified the cheapest policy in the state for each level of coverage. You can use the table below to compare the different costs and benefits of the metal tiers.

For example, the Ambetter Clear Silver is the cheapest Silver plan, and it comes with a monthly premium of $362 for a 40-year-old and a deductible of $5,400. On the other hand, the monthly premium for the cheapest Gold plan, the Ambetter Everyday Gold, is $402, but it has a much lower deductible of $750.

Although Ambetter provides some of the cheapest plans in Kentucky, the cheapest plan for your county may differ depending on insurer availability.

Your age and the metal tier of the plan you choose are two important factors that impact your monthly health insurance premium. As your age increases, premiums across all metal tiers increase.

In Kentucky, the average premium for a 40-year-old is 28% more expensive than the premium for a 21-year-old. The average premium for a 60-year-old is 112% more expensive than for a 40-year-old.

Finding your best health insurance coverage in Kentucky

The best health insurance policy for you is one that fits your medical needs and financial situation. Typically, policies in the higher metal tiers, like Silver and Gold, have costlier monthly premiums, but they also provide lower out-of-pocket expenses, like deductibles, copays and coinsurance.

If your household income is below 138% of the federal poverty level, you can enroll in Medicaid to get federally funded coverage.

Gold plans: Best for high expected medical costs

The cheapest Gold plan in Kentucky is the Ambetter Everyday Gold. Compare all tiers in Kentucky above.

Gold is the highest metal tier available in Kentucky and typically covers the greatest share of out-of-pocket costs, which means you'll pay lower deductibles, copays and coinsurance. These benefits come at the expense of a higher monthly premium.

The average cost of a Gold plan for a 40-year-old in Kentucky is 16% greater than the average cost of a Silver health plan. Generally, Gold health insurance policies are the best in terms of cost-effectiveness if you expect to incur high medical expenses, such as from chronic conditions, or you have costly prescriptions. You can expect these plans to cover about 80% of your medical costs, while you pay for the remaining 20%.

Silver plans: Best for those with low incomes or average medical costs

The cheapest Silver plan in Kentucky is the Ambetter Clear Silver. Compare all tiers in Kentucky above.

Silver plans fall between Gold and Bronze plans in terms of coverage and cost. They can be a good option if you want a lower monthly premium than a Gold plan but higher health coverage than a Bronze plan.

However, Silver plans are eligible for cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies that further lower out-of-pocket expenses for low-income families. Typical Silver plans cover about 70% of your health care costs, while you pay 30%. But with CSR subsidies, you could qualify for a Silver plan that covers up to 94% of your health care costs.

Bronze and Expanded Bronze plans: Best for young, healthy people

The cheapest Bronze plan in Kentucky is the Ambetter Clear Bronze. The cheapest Expanded Bronze plan is the Ambetter Everyday Bronze. Compare all tiers in Kentucky above.

Bronze and Expanded Bronze health insurance plans offer the cheapest monthly premiums, but the trade-off is that they also offer the least amount of coverage.

These plans are available to everyone and have cheaper premiums than Silver plans, on average. But if you need medical care during the year, you have to pay more out of pocket before coverage kicks in.

On average, you can expect a Bronze plan to cover about 60% of your health care costs, while you pay for the other 40%. Expanded Bronze plans increase coverage to about 65%, while you pay roughly 35%. We only recommend these plans if you have the financial means to cover a large portion of the cost of a potential medical emergency.

Health insurance rate changes in Kentucky

In Kentucky, health insurance providers are required by law to get any premium, deductible or out-of-pocket maximum changes approved by federal regulators.

From 2022 to 2023, Bronze plans had the biggest increase in average price — with premiums increasing by 9%.

Best cheap health insurance companies in Kentucky

Since the Affordable Care Act was passed, Kentucky has been one of the most successful states in reducing the uninsured rate. There are currently five health insurance companies on the Kentucky state exchange:

Ambetter from WellCare of Kentucky offers the most affordable rates for all plan tiers: Bronze, Expanded Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Cheapest health insurance plans by county

The cheapest Silver health insurance policy depends on where you live, your age and the number of people covered. In Pendleton County, for instance, a 40-year-old would pay $121 more per month than they would pay in Bullitt County for the same policy. The table below shows the sample monthly rates for the most affordable Silver plan in each county for an individual and a couple.

Methodology

Health insurance rates, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums found in this report were compiled from data found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) government website. ValuePenguin utilized the public use files (PUFs) to find averages by age, metal tier and county to provide a detailed evaluation of health insurance in Kentucky for the 2023 plan year. 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.