Best Cheap Health Insurance in Utah (2023)

If you are looking for health insurance, you can find cheap policies on the Utah health insurance exchange. The Med Benchmark Silver 6300 from SelectHealth is the cheapest Silver health insurance plan offered in most counties.

Utah lawmakers expanded Medicaid, so this is another coverage option if your income falls below 138% of the federal poverty level.

Utah has six insurers offering health policies in the state, with coverage from multiple providers in all counties but one — SelectHealth is the only provider in Sanpete County. This means most residents will have plenty of options when selecting coverage.

Cheapest health insurance by metal tier

We compared all the plans offered on the Utah marketplace and identified the most affordable health insurance policies at every level of coverage. The table below shows each metal tier, along with its corresponding cheapest plan, deductible, out-of-pocket maximum and monthly cost for a 40-year-old.

Health insurance in Utah is divided into three metal tiers: Bronze, Silver and Gold. All tiers have different average prices, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. Each metal tier also has multiple policy options.

The graph below shows the average cost of health insurance based on the metal tier for people ages 21, 40 and 60. As you can see, costs increase as you get older. For a Silver health care plan, a 40-year-old will pay 48% more on average than a 21-year-old for the same level of coverage. A 60-year-old will pay 103% more than a 40-year-old for the same health plan.

Finding the best health insurance coverage in Utah

The Utah health insurance marketplace offers a variety of plans, but the best health insurance plan for you will depend on your income level and expected health care needs, in addition to a policy's cost. It is important to evaluate your personal health and financial situation before selecting a policy.

Gold plans: Best for high expected medical costs

The cheapest Gold plan in Utah is the Signature Gold 1500. Compare all tiers in Utah above.

Gold health insurance policies have the highest premiums but also provide the most financial coverage if you have high medical costs. This is due to the low deductible for Gold plans, as the health insurance provider pays a large portion of medical expenses.

For example, if you use prescription drugs and need refills often, a Gold plan would work well because you will meet the deductible quickly.

Silver plans: A good middle ground for premiums and deductibles

The cheapest Silver plan in Utah is the Signature Benchmark Silver 6300. Compare all tiers in Utah above.

Silver plans are a great option if you know you will have medical expenses. Premiums and deductibles for a Silver plan offer a middle ground between Gold and Bronze policies. All marketplace policies in Utah, except for Catastrophic plans, offer premium tax credits.

However, Silver plans allow for extra cost-sharing reductions (CSRs). Anyone with income below 250% of the federal poverty level can get CSR subsidies on copayments and deductibles. This is a great feature of Silver plans that offers better benefits than Gold plans but at a lower cost.

Bronze plans: Best for young, healthy households

The cheapest Bronze plan in Utah is the SaveWell Bronze 8500. Compare all tiers in Utah above.

Bronze health plans have the lowest rates in Utah, but this can come at a cost due to the high deductibles. The deductibles for these plans will often be set at the maximum limit allowed, so you must first spend thousands of dollars before any coverage benefits begin.

Short-term health insurance in Utah

In Utah, you can buy a short-term health insurance policy through a private insurer at any point during the year. The state allows a maximum coverage term of one year and allows policies to be renewed for up to 36 months if the policies are renewable.

Although short-term health insurance covers many health care treatments, it does not necessarily cover all essential health benefits. You should make sure a short-term plan will provide enough coverage before buying one.

Best cheap health insurance companies in Utah

In Utah, six health insurance companies currently provide coverage on the state exchange:

Depending on where you live, the selection of insurers and policies will vary. In Weber County, for example, all six insurers offer a variety of policies. But in Sanpete County, SelectHealth is the only provider available. You should review each plan's premium, deductible and benefits before getting coverage.

Cheapest Silver plan by county

To help you begin your health insurance search, we identified the cheapest Silver plan for each county in Utah. The table below shows the name of the Silver policy, along with the monthly rates for a 40-year-old single adult, a couple and a family of three.

Average cost of health insurance by family size in Utah

Health insurance costs primarily depend on the age of each person insured under the policy. For example, in Utah, if you want to add a 40-year-old adult to a Silver health insurance policy, it would cost $558 on average, while adding a child would cost $299. Below, we have provided the average cost of health insurance depending on the size of the family covered under the plan.

Health insurance rate changes in Utah

Policy premiums are set by individual health insurance companies in Utah. Once the rates are determined, they are sent to the health insurance exchange for approval.

The average cost of a health plan in Utah increased by 6% from 2022 to 2023. The cost of Bronze plans increased the most, by 27%. Silver and Gold health plans in Utah cost nearly the same amount for 2023 as for 2022.

Methodology

The Utah health insurance rates and plan data used in this analysis were sourced from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website. We used the public use files (PUFs) from the CMS to calculate the mean rates for Utah residents across multiple variables, such as metal tier, age, family size and county. 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.