If you qualify for a subsidy
HealthCare.gov is the most affordable coverage available, full stop. Medicaid is expanded (since December 2023) in North Carolina.
If you don't
Full-price marketplace plans are the most expensive coverage in North Carolina. For healthy people, private PPOs on Cigna, Aetna and PHCS PPO are routinely 30–50% less. North Carolina 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.
Medicaid expansion in late 2023 moved hundreds of thousands of lower-income North Carolinians onto Medicaid — which means the people still shopping are mostly above the subsidy range.