Covered California urges consumers to make health plan changes before Jan. 31 deadline

Covered California and Bay Area health organizations made a public appeal in Oakland on Tuesday to urge Californians to enroll in health insurance plans before Jan. 31.

Covered California executive director Jessica Altman and representatives of Alameda Health Consortium, East Bay-based Asian Health Services, and the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley spoke at the briefing in downtown Oakland.

Covered California, the state’s official marketplace for health care plans, is trying to boost enrollment amid uncertainty surrounding higher health care premiums because of federal cuts to health care.

The Affordable Care Act of 2014 first offered premium tax credits to low- and middle-income households to subsidize health care costs. These premium tax credits were then enhanced in 2021 through the American Rescue Plan Act, and extended in 2022 through the Inflation Reduction Act to make health care more affordable.

With the passage of H.R. 1, also called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the enhanced premium tax credits for health care expired at the end of 2025. A vast majority of Californians will remain eligible for the premium tax credits, which will offset some of the cost of health care, though not as much as the enhanced premium credits.

Millions face steeper insurance costs

As a result, more than 1.7 million Californians are staring at steep increases in their health coverage costs this year.

If eligible Californians fail to enroll in a Covered California plan before Jan. 31, they will have to wait a full year before they can enroll again.

“We want to remind everyone that health insurance is still the best way to protect the physical, mental, and financial health of you and your family,” said Altman.

She said that despite the higher premiums taking effect this year, more than 1.9 million people have enrolled in health care plans through Covered California during this enrollment period, including 350,000 from the Bay Area.

Enrollment numbers from 2025 were similar, but enrollment is much slower this year, and Altman expects that many Californians might opt out of coverage over the next few months as they face the difficult choice between paying for health care and other essentials like rent.

“We won’t see the full picture for some time,” she said, “but our estimate is that around 400,000 Covered California enrollees could drop coverage over time as a result of these affordability impacts.”