Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum: Comparing ACA Plan Types in Tennessee

2026 snapshot

Statewide figures; your own rate depends on your age, county, household income, and the specific plan you choose. Sources: CMS federal rate review filings and the 2026 Marketplace Open Enrollment Period State-Level Public Use File.

What "metal tier" actually measures

Every ACA plan is built around a target actuarial value — the share of total medical costs the plan is designed to cover for a standard population over a year, not a promise about any one person's bill. A plan with a 70% actuarial value is built so that, averaged across a typical group of enrollees, the plan pays about 70% of costs and enrollees pay the remaining 30% through deductibles, copays, and coinsurance. The federal metal tiers set the target band for that percentage:

These are the standard federal actuarial-value bands that apply nationally, not Tennessee-specific figures — individual plans vary within each band, and not every carrier sells every tier in every Tennessee county.

Silver can be worth more than it looks — if you qualify

Silver is the only tier where cost-sharing reductions (CSR) can raise the actuarial value well above the standard 70–72% range, but only for a Silver plan bought on the Marketplace, and only based on household income:

• Income up to 150% of the federal poverty level: Silver plan actuarial value rises to about 94%
• Income between 151% and 200% FPL: about 87%
• Income between 201% and 250% FPL: about 73%

Above 250% FPL, Silver plans are priced and covered at the standard 70–72% band with no CSR boost. Because Tennessee has not expanded Medicaid, the lower end of this range interacts directly with the TennCare coverage gap already covered in our cost guide — it's worth checking a subsidy estimate before assuming a higher-tier plan is out of reach, since a CSR Silver plan can end up cheaper to actually use than a Bronze plan with a lower sticker premium.

How the tiers tend to differ when you use care

Actual copay and coinsurance amounts vary by specific plan and carrier — always confirm them in that plan's Summary of Benefits before enrolling — but the tiers follow a consistent general pattern:

This is exactly why the site's carrier comparison page and cost guide both push toward getting a personalized quote rather than picking by premium alone: two plans in the same tier from different carriers, or even two Bronze plans from the same carrier, can have meaningfully different copay structures for the specific services you actually use.

2026 rate changes by carrier in Tennessee

All six carriers selling ACA Marketplace plans in Tennessee for 2026 raised rates, but by very different amounts. These are the final approved full-price rate changes, before any premium tax credit is applied:

Weighted statewide average: +37.5%. Figures are final approved individual-market rate changes filed with state and federal regulators for the 2026 plan year, not what any one enrollee will pay after subsidies. A rate increase applies to a carrier's full lineup on average — individual plans within that carrier's portfolio can move by more or less than the carrier-wide figure.

The spread matters more than the average. A carrier with a smaller 2026 increase isn't automatically the better deal once you account for its starting price, network, and formulary — see the specific carrier pages for what each insurer tends to offer.