Tens of thousands of Californians pay more for health insurance this year after subsidy cuts

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For Mikayla Tencer, being self-employed already meant juggling higher taxes, irregular income and the constant pressure of finding her own health insurance.This year, it also meant rethinking how often she could afford to see a doctor.The 29-year-old content creator in San Francisco paid $168 a month last year for a Blue Shield health plan through Covered California.

This year — without enhanced federal subsidies that expired at the end of December — that same plan would have cost $299 a month, with higher copays.“People assume that because I’m young, I can just pick the cheapest plan and not worry about it,” Tencer said.“But I do need regular care, especially for mental health.”Tencer is among tens of thousands of middle-class Californians facing steep increases in health insurance costs after Congress allowed enhanced federal subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans to expire Dec.

31.Those extra subsidies were enacted in 2021 as part of temporary, pandemic-era relief, boosting financial help for people buying coverage on state-run insurance marketplaces such as Covered California.The law also expanded eligibility to people earning more than 400% of the federal poverty level, about $62,600 for a single person and $128,600 for a family of four.With the expiration of the enhanced subsidies, people above that income threshold no longer receive federal assistance, and many who still qualify are seeing sharply higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

On top of the loss of the extra federal benefits, the average Covered California premium this year rose by 10.3% because of fast-rising medical costs.To lower her monthly bill, Tencer switched to the cheapest Covered California option, bringing her premium down to about $161 a month.But the savings came with new costs.

Primary care and mental health visits now carry $60 copays, up from $35.When she showed up for a psychia...