Is there any affordable options outside of the state and the ACA?

I just started a job that offers a $3000 stipend for health insurance. I pay $200 out of my check every month for a PPO plan through UnitedHealthcare. It’s great insurance but it totals at $450 a month for just me, a 26 year old female with little to no health issues. If I declined coverage through my work, I would get that $5000 added back to my salary and be able to use it for extra expenses and a cheaper health insurance. However, now that I have gone on the hunt for health insurance outside of my workplace I am seeing how impossible it is, and how many scammers there are.

I tried to apply for state health insurance and denied because I make more than $20,000 dollars. The affordable care act denied me I believe because I also make too much. And the only other avenues I have tried have been pretty much random advisors calling me and signing me up for an insurance policy. That is extremely cheap which I usually find out after I have signed up that it’s a scam. But they will still try and convince me to keep the policy and deny it being a scam.

I’m so exhausted from trying to figure this out, and I don’t understand why there are no clearcut options out there for people who aren’t considered low income, but want to save money on health insurance.

Are there any options for me that I could manage to pay 200 or less a month for insurance? I’m open to suggestions.

submitted by /u/Tall-Passage-5740
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