Military City USA is more than a nickname. Joint Base San Antonio, spanning Lackland, Fort Sam Houston, and Randolph, drives one of the largest concentrations of service members and military retirees anywhere, and every separation or retirement is a coverage decision. Add a fast growing bioscience sector and thousands of small family businesses, and Bexar County produces coverage questions that rarely fit a standard employer-plan answer.
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 San Antonio
| 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 |
If you are self-employed in San Antonio, the individual marketplace benchmark above is your starting point. Whether a subsidy applies depends on your projected household income and family size, and no estimate guarantees eligibility; have a licensed agent check your figures before you enroll.
Averages from federal data and our own client base, not quotes. Your price depends on your age, household, income, and plan choice.
San Antonio at a glance
San Antonio's economy leans on the military, medicine, and tourism, with Joint Base San Antonio and the South Texas Medical Center among the region's biggest employers and the River Walk driving a large hospitality workforce. Hospitality and food service jobs frequently come without benefits, which keeps individual-market demand high across the city.
| Population | County | Metro |
|---|---|---|
| ~1,434,600 | Bexar (FIPS 48029) | San Antonio-New Braunfels |
Three San Antonio situations
Staff Sergeant Reyes, 38, separating at Lackland. TRICARE ends with his transition, a qualifying event that opens a Special Enrollment Period. He lines up a marketplace plan to start the day after separation rather than risk a gap while he interviews for civilian security work.
Lupe, 47, runs a taqueria on the South Side with her husband. Their income swings with the season. Some years they qualify for a strong subsidy; in lean years their reported income risks falling below the poverty line, where Texas's decision not to expand Medicaid leaves no subsidy at all. An agent helps them project income carefully each fall.
Ben, 27, medical device sales rep between jobs. Healthy, no ongoing prescriptions, three to six months until his next role with benefits. A short-term plan with an initial term under 12 months covers the interval at low cost, with the tradeoff that anything pre-existing is excluded.
How Texas's rules work
Texas Insurance Code chapter 1509 sets the short-term rules: initial terms under 12 months and total duration of 36 months, which state regulators describe as up to 3 years. This is state statute, so it holds regardless of the direction federal rulemaking takes. The stricter 2024 federal limit is currently not being enforced under the August 7, 2025 tri-agency statement, leaving Texas law in control.
Texas has not expanded Medicaid. Adults below the federal poverty level without a traditional Medicaid category get neither Medicaid nor a marketplace subsidy, the situation known as the coverage gap. In Bexar County that reality touches a meaningful share of service workers, and honest guidance means naming it: limited-benefit products can help with some bills, but they are not major medical coverage.
Open enrollment on HealthCare.gov runs November 1 through January 15 for Texans. Outside that window you need a qualifying event, or a short-term bridge.
Want a straight answer on your situation? A licensed Texas agent will compare every line above against your budget, free of obligation.
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.