Solo owner
You're an individual buyer with the self-employed deduction. Price both markets.
You plus one
A spouse on payroll or one W-2 employee opens guaranteed-issue small-group coverage. Often the answer when one person has a condition.
3–50 employees
Level-funded and traditional group plans, deductible to the business. Under 50 there's no mandate to offer coverage. 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.