Cheapest (and Best) Health Insurance in Portland, OR (2024)

Your health insurance premiums depend on several factors, including your plan type, location, age, medical needs and the number of people on your plan. MoneyGeek gathered and examined market data to identify Portland, Oregon's most affordable health insurance plans.

To decide which provider offers the best health insurance in Portland for a particular demographic, MoneyGeek also took into account monthly costs, MOOP costs, plan options and claims denial rates. Not all businesses provide all metal tiers or plan types. Picking the right plan for you involves comparing available options.

If only one supplier exists in your area, choose the tier or plan that best suits your needs.

MoneyGeek researched local insurance companies to find the one with the best prices, plan options and customer service. At $461 per month, Moda is Portland's top health insurance option, followed by Providence Health Plan at $449 per month.

If you want the best health insurance in Oregon, cost shouldn't be your only consideration. Customer service, cost-sharing options and plan choices are also important factors.

Portland locals can also get the best cheap health insurance from Moda. The MOOP and monthly premium for this provider's Silver plans are $4,510 and $461, respectively.

The average cost of health insurance is different in every state and city. Your monthly payment will also depend on how you and your insurer split medical costs. For instance, plans with higher monthly premiums typically have lower out-of-pocket expenses.

The best service provider may not always have the lowest premium. Understanding the relationships between metal levels, plan premiums and out-of-pocket costs will help you find cheap health insurance in Oregon. Reading up on deductibles, copays and co-insurance might help make sense of complex plan rates.

With an average monthly premium of $449, Providence Health Plan offers the cheapest plans in Portland. Remember that Oregon’s most affordable health insurance might not necessarily be the best option. But, if money is your main concern, Silver plans are a smart choice because they offer mid-tier coverage and cost-sharing reductions.

The metal system for health insurance consists of levels Bronze through Platinum, with Bronze providing the least expensive monthly premiums. Plans with lower premiums sometimes have higher MOOPs and offer protection in emergencies but little coverage for standard medical care. Catastrophic policies frequently cost less than Bronze plans, but they only cover a subset of treatments and have age restrictions.

Below is a list of the most affordable health insurance providers in Portland for each metal tier and their average monthly costs. The chart does not include Catastrophic plans because they are only available to those under 30.

Providence Health Plan offers the cheapest Silver plan in Portland at $424 per month.

The following table covers the city’s least expensive options and average monthly premiums for other metal levels. We omitted Catastrophic plans because they are only available to those under 30.

To determine your health insurance rates, insurers consider age; generally, as you grow older, premiums increase. The most affordable plans, excluding Catastrophic coverage, are Bronze or Extended Bronze plans. To qualify for a Catastrophic plan, you must fulfill specific requirements.

To avoid paying out of pocket for out-of-network services, understand your provider's network before choosing a lower-tiered plan. The chart below lists costs by age for some of Portland’s most affordable Silver plan providers.

Age and metal tier are the two factors that most significantly affect your health insurance rate. As you get older, the cost of your health insurance premium rises. Higher metal tiers are associated with the premiums as well. The chart below shows the cost of health insurance by age and metal tier.

There is no denying that the cost of health insurance can be expensive. Fortunately, depending on your income, you may qualify for a health insurance subsidy if your income falls between 100% and 400% of the FPL. The American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act repealed the exclusion for those making more than 400% of the FPL, enabling more people to be eligible for subsidies until 2025.

Medicare and Medicaid also provide affordable health coverage for people who qualify. If your revenue is between 100% and 150% of the FPL, you may qualify for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). To qualify for Medicare, you must be over 65.

To help you learn more about Portland health insurance, we've answered some of the most frequently asked questions related to the topic.