Blue Cross or a UnitedHealthcare-Network Private Plan, City by City

Short answer: in the 10 cities on this site where Anthem sells 2027 plans, the cheapest off-exchange Blue Cross Bronze plan for a healthy 40-year-old costs $463 to $590 a month, depending on the city, and a private plan on the UnitedHealthcare network starts at about $245 to $300. The yearly gap is widest in Columbus, OH, about $4,142, and narrowest in Indianapolis, IN, about $2,311. In Madison, Anthem sells no individual plan for 2027.

Anthem Blue Cross or a private plan, city by city

Anthem prices each rating area separately, so the Blue Cross price changes from one city to the next even inside a state. These are the cheapest plans Anthem sells off the marketplace in each city’s main county, against the private plan for the state, biggest gap first:

Monthly premiums, one person, non-tobacco. Anthem: Off-Marketplace quotes for the county’s 2027 rating area, October 24, 2026. Private: the low end of the estimate on this site, the main plan, which has no deductible, averaged for men and women, before health questions. Not an offer. Gap: twelve months of the Bronze premium minus the private plan’s; the Bronze deductible comes on top.

Madison. Anthem’s 2027 quotes show no individual medical plan in Dane County, so the Blue Cross option there is gone for 2027. Other insurers still sell ACA plans in the county, and the private plan is available as anywhere else in Wisconsin: Madison plans and hospitals.

The hospital question

For most people choosing between the two, the deciding question is the hospital. All 13 of Anthem’s 2027 Ohio plans are Pathway plans, and every Ohio Pathway plan in the 2026 federal plan data is an HMO, which pays for care outside its network only in an emergency. The private plan uses UnitedHealthcare’s national PPO network: a network hospital bills at the network’s discounted rate, and the plan pays its set amount toward that bill.

Neither network includes every hospital, and networks change each year. Send your ZIP code and the hospital that matters: a licensed agent checks it against both before you apply. The hospital pages list the plans filed around each system.

Every other city on this site

Outside Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin, the Blue company is a different one in each state, and its 2027 prices come with the federal plan data in November. The private plan’s network is UnitedHealthcare in every state below except South Dakota, where it is PHCS. The 53 other cities, by state:

What the lower price leaves out

• The private plan asks health questions and can exclude a condition you already have; the Blue plan cannot.
• It pays set amounts, so a large bill can leave a balance; the Blue plan has a yearly out-of-pocket cap.
• Most private plans leave out maternity care.
• In return it has no deductible on the main plan and can start in any month.

A licensed agent here sells both and recommends the Blue plan only when it is really needed: an ongoing condition, a pregnancy, or an income under the tax-credit line ($63,840 a year for one person for 2027 coverage). Row by row: the full side-by-side on CoverageByCounty. State by state: the PlansByState ranking.

Common questions

Which city saves the most by switching from Blue Cross to a private plan?

Among the cities on this site where Anthem is the Blue company, Columbus, OH: Anthem's cheapest 2027 off-exchange Bronze plan costs $590 a month at 40 there, and a private plan with no deductible starts at about $245, a gap of about $4,142 a year. The smallest gap is in Indianapolis, IN, about $2,311.

Can I buy an Anthem Blue Cross plan in Madison, Wisconsin?

Not for 2027. Anthem's quotes show no individual medical plan in Dane County. Other insurers sell ACA plans there, and a private plan on the UnitedHealthcare network is available too.

Is my hospital in the UnitedHealthcare network?

It depends on the hospital and can change from year to year. Send your ZIP code and the hospital's name: a licensed agent checks it against the private plan's UnitedHealthcare network and the Blue plans in your county before you apply.

Is a private plan on the UnitedHealthcare network UnitedHealthcare insurance?

No. The insurer is Freedom Life Insurance Company of America; UnitedHealthcare provides the PPO network and its discounted rates. The plan asks health questions and pays set amounts for covered care.

Sources

• Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Off-Marketplace plan quotes for every 2027 rating area in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin, October 24, 2026.
• CMS plan landscape file, 2026: plan network types and the Blue company in each state.
• Freedom Life Insurance Company of America, PremierAdvantage and HealthAccess III fixed indemnity plan brochures; private plan quotes for each state, October 2026.

General information, not a quote or an offer of coverage. Private plans are medically underwritten: they ask health questions, can decline or exclude a condition, are not ACA coverage and get no tax credit. Each Blue Cross and Blue Shield company is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. UnitedHealthcare is named only as the network the private plans use. Daniel Griffin, licensed independent agent, NPN #22052447, is not tied to any single carrier and not affiliated with the U.S. government.