Health Coverage in Meridian
Meridian is in Lauderdale County, Rating Area 6. For 2026, 3 carriers filed 31 marketplace plans there: Ambetter from Magnolia Health, Molina Healthcare, UnitedHealthcare. Mississippi uses healthcare.gov, and every marketplace plan is guaranteed issue — your health history does not change your price or whether you can buy.
Every one of the 31 plans is an HMO. There is no PPO filed in Lauderdale County, so outside a genuine emergency a plan pays only inside its own network. Check that the hospitals and doctors below are in a plan’s directory before you enrol, not after.
What Plans Cost in Meridian
The figure a premium tax credit is calculated from is the benchmark — the second-cheapest Silver plan. In Lauderdale County a 40-year-old pays $709 a month for it at full price, and a family of four $2,121 a month — $25,456 a year before any credit.
| Tier | Premium / month | Deductible | Carrier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expanded Bronze | $629 | $7,500 | UnitedHealthcare |
| Bronze | $586 | $10,600 | UnitedHealthcare |
| Silver | $684 | $6,000 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health |
| Gold | $850 | $2,000 | Ambetter from Magnolia Health |
Source: CMS Plan Year 2026 Qualified Health Plan Landscape file. Full-price filed rates before premium tax credits; not a quote or an offer of coverage. Verify current rates at enrollment.
Hospitals in Meridian
Medicare’s hospital directory lists 4 acute-care or critical-access hospitals in Meridian:
- Alliance Health Center — acute care hospital
- Anderson Regional Medical Center — acute care hospital, emergency department, CMS overall rating 2 of 5
- Anderson Regional Medical Center South Campus — acute care hospital, emergency department
- Ochsner Rush Hospital — acute care hospital, emergency department, CMS overall rating 3 of 5
That list says where the hospitals are, not which plans cover them. Network participation differs between plans from the same carrier, and it changes year to year, so check each hospital against the plan’s own provider directory before you choose. A licensed agent can run that check across every plan filed in Lauderdale County.
Source: CMS Hospital General Information (Care Compare). Ratings are CMS’s overall star rating where one is published.
What a Doctor Visit and an ER Visit Cost
For care that is not an emergency, the gap between tiers shows up in what a visit costs, not only in the premium. Across the plans filed in Lauderdale County for 2026:
- Silver (8 plans): a primary-care visit is most often a $40 copay (4 plans); an emergency-room visit is most often 40% coinsurance after the deductible (4 plans).
- Bronze (1 plans): a primary-care visit is most often no charge once the deductible is met (1 plans); an emergency-room visit is most often no charge once the deductible is met (1 plans).
- Gold (12 plans): a primary-care visit is most often a $30 copay (4 plans); an emergency-room visit is most often 25% coinsurance after the deductible (4 plans).
Urgent-care charges vary by plan and are not in the federal landscape file, so check a plan’s Summary of Benefits and Coverage before you rely on one.
Subsidy Eligibility in Meridian
Premium tax credits are set by household income against the federal poverty level. For a single adult in 2026 they run from about $15,650 up to $62,600; for a family of four the upper limit is $128,600. Above 400% of poverty the credit stops completely — the enhanced rules that removed that cap expired on 31 December 2025, and above the line there is no cap on repaying a credit you turn out not to have earned.
Mississippi has not expanded Medicaid, which leaves a gap at the bottom of the scale: an adult earning below the poverty line can be too poor for a marketplace subsidy and still not qualify for Medicaid. If your income is near or below $15,650 as a single adult, check that before assuming you have no options.
Where you live does change the size of the credit, because it is calculated from the local benchmark: $709 a month in Lauderdale County for a 40-year-old.
More in Mississippi
- Health insurance in Lauderdale County
- Health insurance in Mississippi
- Mississippi plan comparison
- How much health insurance costs in Mississippi