Millions of Californians face the prospect of losing health coverage this year as federal measures that vastly expanded the ranks of the insured amid the COVID-19 pandemic are set to expire this year.
Because of increased federal financial help from the American Rescue Plan, for instance, two out of every three state residents who enrolled through Covered California were able to get policies that cost $10 or less per month. The state-based insurance marketplace reported a record enrollment of 1.8 million after at the conclusion of this year's open enrollment period, up from 1.6 million for the comparable period a year earlier.
"The law lowered premiums and boosted enrollment — with the biggest beneficiaries being communities of color, lower-income Americans and many in the middle class who got help paying for their coverage for the first time," said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California. "In the absence of federal action to extend these policies this year, people in California and across the country will have their access to health coverage and care dramatically reduced."
