Over a million Californians are facing ‘catastrophic’ health care cost increases

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | November 3, 2025 | By Lester Black

[artichokegrower]

David Delfiner and Lisa Parsons received a shocking letter from their health insurance provider when they checked their mail last week. Their monthly health insurance cost will increase from $350 a month this year to $2,221 starting in 2026

[artichokegrower]

“It’s insane. It’s unbelievable,” said Parsons, a 59-year-old retiree living in South Lake Tahoe.

59 years old and retired. I’m 73 and still working. Did not take Social Security until I had to at 70. I’m paying Medicare Part B, Blue Cross supplemental, Blue Cross dental and vision, WellCare pharmaceutical, and cash for everything not covered by all of this. No I do not want to pay more taxes to cover your medical expenses.

[bray]

But we were all told how wonderful Obamacare is. We paid big money for it when we had it.

[yuleeyahoo]

Obama care is only affordable with massive government subsidies.

[PGR88]

Spineless Republicans have done NOTHING about removing/changing Obamacare for 15 years.

The standard default response is - throw more government money and debt at it, and tighten the screws on the taxpaying middle class even further.

Maybe Trump will do something about it.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

This is the problem with massive government entitlement programs like Obamacare. They deliberately build in massive increases as a feature so that people will scream about them and then that will require more legislation, more subsidies, more tax money, more Socialism. Obama was devious and knew what he was doing. On top of that, they never work to begin with. But the goal is more government control of people’s personal income in the form of taxes that are then spent how the government wants to spend it.

[Brandonmark]

The obscene profits of the medical, pharmaceutical, legal and insurance industries are ALL sucking on the Federal Government Tatas and that is why there is a “health care crisis”!

[blitz128]

Kalifornia “miracle “ continues to crumble without IV of federal funds

[proxy_user]

This is all about people with incomes at least 4 times the poverty line. They range from singles with incomes above $61K to families of four with incomes above $125K. These are the cases where the premiums really jump.

[adorno]

Their monthly health insurance cost will increase from $350 a month this year to $2,221 starting in 2026

This is called, a hold-up or stick-up.

"Your money or your life!".

Pay up or die!

[bak3r]

Unfortunately I was already paying $2200/mo, It’s looking like I will be north of $4,000/mo in 2026. As someone that is self employed are there any cheaper alternatives?

[oldplayer]

Their income is more than $100,000 per year. Maybe they should just set aside 20% of that for a few years and just stay healthy. Or, is there a wild chance that these two are high risk? Maybe they need to move from South Lake Tahoe.

[webheart]

I’m not sympathetic with someone who lives in the Lake Tahoe area. It’s not exactly a low rent area. He probably owns property there if he can afford to retire at 59. Any property in Lake Tahoe is going to sell really nicely due to the fact that nobody can build anything new there. The guy has cheaper health insurance because he is getting subsidized coverage.

[Fido969]

My Part B will be going up to about $200, and I haven't gotten my supplemental, but I'm guessing that will be close to $950 per quarter, so that's $6200 a year just for me. My wife has an advantage plan, so I only pay the Part B for her, so that's another $2,400 Plus she pays about $100 a month for a physician program, so we pay about $9800 a year. When she goes on supplemental, that will be about $12,200 a year. I'm 68 and still working.

These whiny clowns are pathetic.

[Dr. Franklin]

And the illegal aliens the Rats are giving living expenses through federal expenses intended for Americans may decide it’s time to go home. Then the Rats can’t vote for them illegally. It’s more winning.

[bray]

Those insurance companies are not making obscene profits. They are not allowed to underwrite preconditions which means you pay for a cadillac policy rather than what you need.

[blackdog]

That was the plan. We “ had to vote for it to see what’s in it.” (Nancy Pelosi)

[bray]

Go to healthshare. There are numerous ones who are around 300 per year but must be a Christian non drinker/smoker. I used it for 10 years and saved lots of money.

[vpintheak]

Yep. I’m with you. Spineless wimps!
Anyone with a brain knows healthcare insurance and healthcare costs skyrocketed after the “Affordable Care Act”.
The Army hurt my back, but man am I so thankful that I have VA Healthcare. Especially when I’m retired.

[HombreSecreto]

Yes, by design to try and get nationalized healthcare.

Then, use that system to cull the herd of the hoi polloi.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

We had Part B medical from Regence (part of Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Idaho). We were paying about $22/mo for each of us for Part B. It was too good to be true, of course. Regence just exited the business and the best we can find now is $205/mo for each of us! That’s a 9X increase!!

The slight good news is that our annual deductible went from $6,000 each to $257 each, so, if we get really sick, we will be money ahead. But who wants to get the Big C or a heart attack to enjoy that benefit?