Health Insurance When You’re Self-Employed in Connecticut

Your health coverage options when you work for yourself

• Access Health CT, Connecticut’s official health insurance marketplace, is where most self-employed people buy a plan. It’s also the only place to get the premium tax credit that lowers your monthly cost.
• A spouse’s or partner’s employer plan, if one is available to you.
• HUSKY Health (Medicaid/CHIP) or the Covered CT program, if your household income is low enough. Access Health CT checks this when you apply.
• Medicare, once you’re eligible.
• COBRA, if you just left a job. It keeps your old plan but usually at full price, so compare it with marketplace plans first.

Access Health CT open enrollment for 2027

Outside open enrollment you generally need a qualifying life event, such as losing other coverage, getting married, having a baby or moving, to sign up. Some people, including those who qualify for HUSKY or Covered CT, can enroll any time. Add these dates to your calendar from our tax deadline calendar.

The premium tax credit: lower monthly premiums

The premium tax credit helps pay for a marketplace plan based on your expected household income for the year. Most people take it in advance, so the monthly premium is lower, and then settle up on their tax return using Form 1095-A and Form 8962.

• The income limit is back. The enhanced credits that removed the upper income limit expired at the end of 2025. For 2026 and 2027 coverage, households above 400% of the federal poverty line generally get no credit. For 2027 coverage, that line is $63,840 for one person and $132,000 for a family of four.
• Self-employed income is tricky. Your estimate is based on net self-employment income (after business expenses), not gross sales. If your income ends up higher than you estimated, you may have to repay some or all of the advance credit at tax time. Update Access Health CT during the year if your income changes.
• Lowering income can help near the limit. Retirement contributions such as a SEP-IRA or solo 401(k) reduce the income used for the credit.

Get a rough estimate of your 2027 premium and credit with our self-employed health insurance estimator.

The self-employed health insurance deduction

If you have net profit from self-employment, you may be able to deduct the health, dental and qualifying long-term care insurance premiums you pay for yourself, your spouse and your dependents. It’s an "above-the-line" deduction, figured on IRS Form 7206 and reported on Schedule 1 of Form 1040, so you get it even if you don’t itemize.

• Limited to your business profit. The deduction can’t be more than your net earnings from the business.
• Not for months you could get a subsidized employer plan. If you or your spouse were eligible for an employer-subsidized health plan in a month, premiums for that month generally don’t qualify, even if you didn’t enroll.
• It works together with the premium tax credit. You can only deduct the premiums you actually paid after the credit, and the two calculations affect each other. Tax software, or your preparer, handles this using IRS rules.
• It doesn’t reduce self-employment tax. It lowers income tax, not the 15.3% self-employment tax.

If you own an S-Corp

More-than-2% S corporation owners follow special rules. To get the deduction, the S-Corp generally has to pay (or reimburse) your health insurance premiums and include them as wages in Box 1 of your W-2. Those amounts aren’t subject to Social Security and Medicare tax when they’re paid under a plan for employees. If you buy a plan in your own name and pay for it yourself with no reimbursement, you generally lose the deduction. Read more in Do I need an S-Corp?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using gross sales instead of profit when you estimate income for Access Health CT. The application asks for household income, and for a business that means net self-employment income after expenses.
• Forgetting to report a mid-year change. A big new contract, a spouse’s new job or a move can change your credit. Updating your application during the year can prevent a surprise bill at tax time.
• Losing Form 1095-A. If you had a marketplace plan with an advance credit, you need it to file your return, and filing without reconciling the credit can delay your refund.
• Deducting premiums twice. Premiums you take as the self-employed health insurance deduction can’t also be counted as itemized medical expenses.

Tips to pay less for health insurance in Connecticut

1. Shop every year. Prices and networks change. Renewing automatically can cost you.
2. Estimate your income carefully, using last year’s return and this year’s numbers. Our quarterly tax calculator can help you project profit.
3. Check doctors and prescriptions in each plan’s network before you choose.
4. Keep records of premiums you pay, and keep Form 1095-A for your tax return. It’s on our tax document checklists.
5. Get help comparing plans. Andrew Nocera holds a Connecticut health insurance license, so he can help you compare coverage and also see how it fits your taxes.