If you qualify for a subsidy
NY State of Health is the most affordable coverage available, full stop. Medicaid is expanded, plus the Essential Plan up to 250% of the poverty level in New York.
If you don't
Full-price marketplace plans are the most expensive coverage in New York. For healthy people, private PPOs on MagnaCare PPO are routinely 30–50% less. New York has no individual mandate penalty, but it has the strictest insurance rules in the country.
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.
New York uses pure community rating — a 25-year-old and a 64-year-old pay the same marketplace premium — and the state restricts most non-ACA plans. Private options in New York are narrower than in other states, so the honest answer here is usually a careful comparison, not a promise of savings.