What, if anything, Congress will do about the rising costs is now at the heart of ongoing discussions at the Capitol. The stakes are high for millions of\u00a0patients, and the results could have major political ramifications. Democrats are expected to seize on the expiring tax credits, and unaffordable health care more broadly, in their quest to retake Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.<\/p>\n
Open enrollment for Covered California, the state\u2019s version of the Affordable Care Act, also known as \u201cObamacare,\u201d began on Nov. 1. Enrollees can renew their plan or shop for a different one through Jan. 31.<\/p>\n
For many facing rising prices, \u201ctheir eyes are going to pop out of their heads,\u201d said Larry Levitt, an Oakland-based policy executive at the health policy group KFF.<\/p>\n
Monthly premiums will rise $125 on average for 2026, said Jagdip Dhillon, a spokesperson for Covered California. That\u2019s a 97% increase, he said. The price spikes will vary from enrollee to enrollee, depending on their income, and not every enrollee will see increases. Figures weren\u2019t available for how many are enrolled in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n
![\"Pictured](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SJM-L-HEALTHCARE-1121-3.jpg\")
Pictured is a letter from Covered California, the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, informing\u00a0Tessa Spargo of the cost increase. Her monthly premium will rise in 2026, after the expiration of tax credits that have helped millions of Americans afford health care since 2021. Photographed at her home in San Francisco Nov. 21, 2025. (Dai Sugano\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Along with the expiring tax credits, health insurers in California are raising 2026 premiums for Covered California enrollees by 10%, on average, Levitt said. The costs of delivering care are increasing, and more patients are taking expensive weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, he said.<\/p>\n
Insurers are also raising rates in part because the tax credits are expiring. Healthier people may drop their insurance as costs rise, and those that remain in the insurance pool are sicker and require more expensive care, Levitt said.<\/p>\n
Kaiser Permanente, the state\u2019s biggest private insurer, will raise rates 7.1%, for Covered California plans, the marketplace reported. In an email, a Kaiser spokesperson said the increase is \u201clower than the increases seen by most competitors in California markets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthem Blue Cross, another major insurer, is raising rates 14.5%, for Covered California plans. Spokesperson Michael Bowman said that\u2019s in part because enrollees are relying on emergency rooms for care at twice the rate of patients with employee-sponsored health plans, he said.<\/p>\n
Those not on ACA plans also are seeing increases. Mercer\u2019s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans<\/a> projects a 6.7% cost increase for 2026 in the company plans available to most consumers, the largest increase in 15 years.<\/p>\n Some Californians won\u2019t be able to pay the higher premiums. About 400,000 people in the state are expected to lose their Covered California eligibility because of the policy change, according to a report by the Urban Institute,<\/a> a nonprofit think tank. Of those, 175,000 are likely to be priced out of insurance coverage entirely, the report estimated.<\/p>\n John Murphy, chief medical officer at La Cl\u00ednica de La Raza, a network of community health centers that serves 83,000 patients at three dozen locations in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties, said rising costs and lost insurance make people less healthy. Patients put off preventative care when it\u2019s too expensive, Murphy said, and then land in a hospital emergency room.<\/p>\n Murphy said the expiring tax credits are only one prong of Republican President Donald Trump\u2019s moves to shift spending on health care from the federal government to states like California.<\/p>\n About 3.5 million Californians are expected to lose Medi-Cal coverage under changes in the president\u2019s \u201cBig Beautiful Bill,\u201d according to the California Budget and Policy Center. The administration says it is preserving benefits for those who truly need them.<\/p>\n In a bid to pressure Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in Congress, to extend the tax credits, Democrats in the U.S. Senate, including California\u2019s two senators, withheld their votes to fund the government. That triggered a partial shutdown that forced essential workers like air traffic controllers and military service members to work without pay, left other federal employees on unpaid furlough, interrupted food aid to the needy and disrupted air travel.<\/p>\n