Golden Rule going up to almost 2k/mo., but make too much for Obamacare.

My husband and I are both independent contractors. We have to buy our own insurance. We don’t qualify for Obamacare, but we aren’t rich and Golden Rule absolutely sucks anyway, but we are afraid not to have any insurance at all while we figure out what to do– it feels like blackmail. We have had this plan for YEARS– maybe eight years.

It was always expensive but now it is astronomical and our insurance guy said there’s nothing else for less. We’re in our 40s. I have autoimmune disease, but my conditions aren’t super serious. One is treated with an inexpensive daily prescription and one isn’t treated at all.

My husband is a smoker — (he hasn’t smoked for a week so hopefully an ex-smoker but we’ll see, fingers crossed). No hypertension, no diabetes, no high cholesterol, no organ issues, no hospitalizations or frequent doctor visits between us… Our son is perfectly healthy aside from seasonal allergies. We are in Texas where there are very few protections or concessions for small business owners regarding insurance affordability.

I feel like we are really missing something but insurance is not my strong suit. I find it intimidatingly confusing and my husband is too busy to look into it more right now. Is there anyone else who was in our shoes? What did you do? What can we do? Thank you so much.