Odessa is the field side of the Permian Basin. Where Midland houses the operators' offices, Odessa supplies the crews, the service companies, and the equipment yards, and much of that work is hourly, contract, or gig-adjacent. Benefits come and go with the rig count. That is exactly the environment Texas's flexible short-term rules were used for long before anyone wrote a blog post about them.
The rules here
| Max initial term (short-term) | Less than 12 months |
| Max total duration | 36 months (Tex. Ins. Code ch. 1509) |
| Products available | ACA marketplace, short-term, extended short-term, fixed indemnity, supplemental |
| Exchange type | Federal marketplace (HealthCare.gov) |
| Medicaid expansion | No |
What's available in Odessa
| Coverage line | Available here | Key limit | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACA marketplace plans | Yes | Open enrollment or a qualifying event | ACA plans |
| Short-term medical | Yes | Initial term under 12 months | Short-term |
| Extended short-term (multi-year) | Yes | Up to 36 months total | Extended plans |
| Fixed indemnity | Yes | Pays set cash amounts, not a substitute for major medical | Fixed indemnity |
| Supplemental (accident, critical illness, dental, vision) | Yes | Pairs with other coverage | Accident · Critical illness · Dental · Vision |
Short-term and fixed indemnity plans are not ACA compliant and do not count as minimum essential coverage. They are medically underwritten and typically exclude pre-existing conditions.
What one person pays for coverage in Texas
Average monthly premiums for individual coverage. Family pricing differs; quotes are individual.
| Coverage type | Monthly premium (individual) | What that number is |
|---|---|---|
| ACA marketplace (before subsidy) | $709 avg. | State average, before tax credits (CMS Marketplace OEP, 2026).1 |
| ACA marketplace (after average subsidy) | $41 after credit | State average, after the average tax credit, among subsidized enrollees (CMS Marketplace OEP, 2026).1 |
| Employer coverage (single / family) | $653 / $2009 single / family | State average total monthly premium, single / family; employee pays about $126/mo toward single coverage (MEPS-IC, 2024).2 |
| Medicaid | $0 or nominal for those who qualify | Program design, not an average; eligibility is income-based5 |
| Fixed indemnity | $235.39 mean | Among GetHealthPlans.com clients in Texas with individual coverage, as of July 2026.3 |
| Accident | $44.20 median | Among GetHealthPlans.com clients in Texas with individual coverage, as of July 2026.3 |
| Critical Illness | $30.72 median | Among GetHealthPlans.com clients in Texas with individual coverage, as of July 2026.3 |
| Dental | $46.02 median | Among GetHealthPlans.com clients in Texas with individual coverage, as of July 2026.3 |
Self-employed and 1099 workers in Odessa should treat the marketplace benchmark above as the starting line. Subsidy eligibility follows projected annual household income and size, and oilfield pay swings make projections tricky; an agent can help you set one that holds up. No estimate guarantees eligibility.
Averages from federal data and our own client base, not quotes. Your price depends on your age, household, income, and plan choice.
Odessa at a glance
Odessa is the seat of Ector County and the blue-collar half of the Permian's twin cities, with an economy weighted toward oilfield services, trucking, and the trades. High school football at Ratliff Stadium made the city famous well beyond Texas, and the hospital district serves patients from a broad stretch of surrounding oil country.
| Population | County | Metro |
|---|---|---|
| ~114,000 | Ector (FIPS 48135) | Odessa |
Two Odessa situations
Junior, 28, floorhand between rig jobs. Healthy, single, and likely back to work within a couple of months with benefits. A short-term policy for the gap costs little and covers a broken arm or an appendix. It excludes anything already in his medical record, which for him is nothing.
Tanya, 49, runs a hotshot trucking business with her husband. Two adults, one aging truck, no group plan. Her husband's back surgery two years ago makes underwritten coverage a bad fit for him, so they price a marketplace plan for the household and check whether their projected income qualifies for a subsidy. Splitting products between spouses is also on the table.
Texas duration rules, plainly
Under Texas Insurance Code chapter 1509, short-term plans carry an initial term under 12 months and can run to 36 months of total duration; the Texas Department of Insurance calls it up to 3 years. That is state law. The stricter 2024 federal rule sits unenforced per the August 7, 2025 tri-agency statement, and even if federal posture shifts, the Texas statute is what governs the product on your desk.
Medicaid is where Texas gets hard. The state did not expand the program, so an adult whose income falls below the federal poverty level, with no traditional Medicaid category, gets no marketplace subsidy and no Medicaid. A bust-year oilfield household can land there without warning. Whole-year income is what the marketplace counts, so a strong first half can still carry a household over the line even after a layoff.
Texas enrolls through HealthCare.gov, November 1 through January 15.
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Keep reading — more Texas guides
Premium data methodology. 1 Marketplace premium averages reflect the average monthly premium before advance premium tax credits, the average monthly premium after advance premium tax credits among subsidized enrollees, and the percentage of enrollees receiving advance premium tax credits, for Texas, as reported in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Marketplace Open Enrollment Period Public Use Files, 2026 plan year, available at cms.gov. Figures are statewide averages across all metal tiers, ages, and household sizes; your premium will differ based on your age, household, income, county, and plan selection.
2 Employer coverage averages reflect the average total monthly premium for single and family coverage at private-sector establishments in Texas, including both employer and employee contributions, as reported in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component (MEPS-IC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2024 tables, available at meps.ahrq.gov. Employee contribution figure reflects the average employee share of the single-coverage premium. Employer plan costs vary by employer, plan design, and firm size.
3 Client averages are calculated from GetHealthPlans.com (MTG Insurance Agency LLC) internal book-of-business records as of July 15, 2026 and reflect the median or mean monthly premium, as labeled, among active policies providing individual coverage (one covered person) of the stated product type held by our clients residing in the stated state or, where labeled agency-wide, across all states in which we operate. Family and multi-person policies are excluded so that figures reflect what one person pays. Figures are shown only for states and products where our records include a sufficient number of active individual policies to report a meaningful average, with a minimum of ten; combinations below that threshold are not shown. Where a figure is labeled "median," half of our client policies in that group pay less and half pay more. Our client base reflects the products we sell, skews toward medically underwritten coverage, and may not represent all buyers or all plans available in a state. These figures are historical averages of premiums actually paid by our clients, are not quotes, offers, or projections, and are not statements of what any individual will pay. Individual premiums are determined by the insurer at application based on age, location, term length, benefit selections, and underwriting outcomes.
4 No federal or state agency publishes average premium data for short-term limited duration insurance or fixed indemnity insurance. Where we do not display a client-base figure for these products, it is because we do not have sufficient policy volume in that state to report a meaningful average. Short-term and fixed indemnity products are medically underwritten, are not major medical coverage, are not required to cover pre-existing conditions or essential health benefits, and do not constitute minimum essential coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
5 Medicaid and CHIP are public programs, not insurance products sold by this agency. Premiums are $0 or nominal for those who qualify; eligibility is determined by your state based on income, household size, and other factors. The figure shown describes program design, not an average. Contact your state Medicaid agency or HealthCare.gov to check eligibility.