If you qualify for a subsidy
HealthCare.gov is the most affordable coverage available, full stop. Medicaid is not expanded in Tennessee.
If you don't
Full-price marketplace plans are the most expensive coverage in Tennessee. For healthy people, private PPOs on Cigna, Aetna and PHCS PPO are routinely 30–50% less. Tennessee has no state individual mandate.
What's not affordable
Health-sharing ministries and indemnity plans look cheap until you have a claim. Ask for the out-of-pocket maximum; if there isn't one, it isn't insurance.
Tennessee didn't expand Medicaid, so self-employed people with modest incomes can fall in a gap with no subsidy — and Nashville's self-employed music, creative and healthcare workforce is one of the biggest private-plan markets in the South.