More than 82,000 people in Alameda County get their health insurance through Covered California. But when open enrollment begins on Nov. 1, they’ll be facing steep rate hikes.
Covered California is the state’s health exchange, created by the Affordable Healthcare Act, signed into law 15 years ago by President Barack Obama. The vast majority of the 24 million Americans who get health coverage through these state exchanges receive significant premium subsidies that sunset at the end of this year. That’s because Republicans in Congress have decided not to renew them. As a federal government shutdown enters its fifth week, Democrats in Congress are holding out for those subsidies to be reinstated, leading to the government shutdown.
“We are in a health care crisis and Republicans don’t even want to talk about how to fix it,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said Tuesday. “The president isn’t even in town as Americans are about to be devastated by the bills they’ll receive on health care.”
Anyone who goes to Covered California in the coming weeks to sign up for 2026 health insurance will be confronted by the new, unsubsidized rates. On average, premiums will increase $125 per person per month, according to Jagdip Dhillon, a spokesperson for Covered California. That translates to a 97% increase, on average, in monthly premium costs.
“Covered California expects many people to go uninsured if they lose the enhanced subsidies,” Dhillon said.
Premiums are expected to rise for some 20 million Americans, pushing them to unaffordable levels for many. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 4.2 million people nationwide will lose ACA coverage when the subsidies expire, including, according to a study from the Urban Institute, at least 174,000 Californians, or 7% of those receiving their health insurance through the exchange.
If that rate holds true in Alameda County, it would mean 5,750 people here could lose coverage come January.
When enhanced ACA subsidies were rolled out in 2021, Dhillon said, people poured into California’s exchange, which experienced an enrollment increase of nearly 372,000. That progress may soon be reversed.
An analysis by Covered California found that communities of color will be particularly hard hit if the subsidies aren’t restored. Premiums will increase on average by 85% for white households and by more than 100% for Black, Latine, and Asian American households. Many enrollees over 55 years of age will be facing premiums as high as $1,400 a month, consuming, on average, more than a quarter of their household income.
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