At 15.0% uninsured among under-65 residents — the 29th lowest of the 254 counties in Texas — Bell County is among the best-covered parts of Texas, well below the state's 19.1%. Only about 51,152 people here have no coverage. That is good news with one edge to it: near-universal employer coverage means very little local familiarity with the individual market when a job ends.
Bell County against Texas, and against the counties we cover
| Bell County | Texas | Covered counties | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uninsured, under 65 | 15.0% | 19.1% | 13.0% |
| Marketplace enrollees per 1,000 | 116 | — | 127 |
| Insurers selling here | 4 | 6 (median) | 5 |
| Individual plans offered | 55 | — | 84 |
State uninsured rate from the Census SAHIE series; the final column is the median across the 104 counties covered on this site. Enrollment density is CMS plan selections per 1,000 under-65 residents.
What you can actually buy here
4 insurers compete here. That is thin enough that switching carrier usually means switching hospital system too, and wide enough that the premiums genuinely differ. Both things are worth checking before either is dismissed. Between them they offer 55 plans, about 14 for each insurer, a short list by national standards. Short lists are easier to compare properly, which is a real advantage as long as one of them fits your doctors. The count is unchanged from last year, so the networks you compared previously still stand.
39,425 people here bought marketplace coverage for 2026, about 116 per thousand under-65 residents. That sits near the middle of the counties covered on this site: a working individual market, but most local coverage still arrives through an employer. Of those, 10,068 were new to the marketplace and 29,357 were renewing. A 26% new share is high, and new enrollees are disproportionately people who lost job-based coverage during the year rather than people shopping by choice.
Nearest counties on coverage
The counties we cover in Texas whose uninsured rate sits closest to Bell County. Worth a look if you are comparing across a county line or moving.
| County | Uninsured | Insurers | Enrollees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hays County | 14.9% | 9 | 20,420 |
| Brazoria County | 15.2% | 6 | 39,377 |
| Galveston County | 15.4% | 5 | 38,700 |
| Guadalupe County | 14.6% | 7 | 14,123 |
| Travis County | 14.6% | 10 | 184,355 |
| Ellis County | 16.1% | 8 | 25,545 |
Everything that applies in Texas · How COBRA works · Work out your COBRA premium · After a job ends
Common questions
How many people are uninsured in Bell County?
About 51,152 people under 65, out of 340,970 in that age group — 15.0%, the 29th lowest of the 254 counties in Texas. The Texas average is 19.1%. Census Bureau estimates for 2024, the most recent published.
How many health insurers sell in Bell County?
4 insurers offer individual marketplace plans in Bell County for 2026, unchanged from the year before, and between them they sell 55 individual medical plans. The median across the counties covered on this site is 5 insurers and 84 plans.
How many people in Bell County buy marketplace coverage?
39,425 plan selections for 2026 — 10,068 new consumers and 29,357 renewals. That works out at 116 per thousand under-65 residents, against a median of 127 across the counties covered here. New consumers are the group most likely to have lost a job during the year.
Talk it through with a licensed agent
Which option is right depends on your state, your income and which doctors you need to keep. A licensed agent can walk through it with you in about eight minutes.
Free to call, no obligation, and we never ask you for payment. CobraScout is paid by the agency that answers, not by you. TTY 711.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, 2024 (released August 2026)
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2026 Marketplace Open Enrollment County-Level Public Use File
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2026 Service Area Public Use File
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2026 Plan Attributes Public Use File
- U.S. Department of Labor, FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers