Blog / Health and ACA

Can I get Obamacare if I am self employed?

The Marketplace was largely built for people in your situation. Here is how to report income when it moves, and the tax deduction most people miss.

Updated August 17, 2026 · 2 min read

Yes, and self employed people are one of the groups the Marketplace exists for. If you have no employees, this is usually your best route to coverage.

Reporting income when it moves

This is the hard part and it is where self employed applicants lose money in both directions.

The figure the Marketplace wants is your expected income for the coming year, net of business expenses. Not gross receipts. Reporting gross is a common mistake and it can cost you the subsidy entirely.

1. Start from last year's Schedule C net profit as a baseline.
2. Adjust for anything you know is changing: a contract ending, a client added, a slower season.
3. If your income swings widely, estimate toward the middle rather than the best case.
4. Update the Marketplace whenever the picture changes, not at tax time.

The deduction most people miss

Self employed people can generally deduct health insurance premiums for themselves, a spouse and dependents as an adjustment to income, not as an itemized deduction. That means you get it even if you take the standard deduction.

The interaction with the premium tax credit is genuinely complicated, because the deduction affects your income, which affects the credit, which affects the deduction. Whoever prepares your taxes should handle it. Just make sure they know you have Marketplace coverage and give them Form 1095-A.

If you have employees

Different rules. Small employers may look at SHOP coverage or a qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement, which lets you reimburse employees for individual coverage tax free. Both are worth a conversation rather than a web page.

Choosing a plan when income is unpredictable

• If you qualify for cost sharing reductions, silver is usually the answer, since that is the only level where they apply.
• If your income is genuinely volatile, consider taking slightly less credit in advance and collecting the rest at tax time. It costs you monthly and removes the risk of owing.
• Watch the out of pocket maximum rather than the premium. A bad year in business and a bad year in health together is the situation to insure against.

See deductibles and maximums and the metal levels.

One thing to set up now

Put a reminder in your calendar for the first week of November, and another for any month your income changes materially. Open enrollment runs November 1 to January 15, and the rest of the year you need a qualifying event.

See special enrollment periods and how the credit works.