Many Californians Can Get Health Coverage for as Little as $10 per Month

SACRAMENTO – Californians can now sign up for affordable health insurance through Covered California, the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, as open enrollment begins for 2023. Two-thirds of the 1.7 million Covered California consumers are eligible for comprehensive health coverage for as little as $10 per month and others can get covered for no cost.

An estimated 1 million Californians are uninsured and eligible for low-cost or no-cost coverage through Covered California or Medi-Cal. Nine out of 10 Californians who sign up receive financial assistance.

“Millions of Californians now have access to affordable health coverage and now is the time to go sign up for health insurance to keep yourself and your family healthy,” said Governor Newsom. “With the support of the Biden-Harris Administration, more Californians than ever before are insured with quality health coverage through Covered California. We won’t stop until every Californian – regardless of income or immigration status – has the health insurance they need and deserve.”

California’s actions to reduce the uninsured rate has led to more people with health care than ever before:

Here are other nation-leading actions the Newsom Administration is taking to lower health care costs and expand access for all Californians:

• Reducing the cost of insulin. The Administration will work with an outside partner to manufacture low-cost insulin, to reduce the cost of this life-saving medication, particularly for those who lack coverage for prescription drugs or who have a high level of cost sharing that exposes them to the ever-increasing costs of insulin.
• Negotiating prescription drug prices and lowering costs. Governor Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation executive order to create the largest single purchaser for prescription drugs.
• Expanding Medi-Cal to all income-eligible, undocumented Californians. Over the last several years, California has expanded eligibility for full-scope Medi-Cal first to children, then young adults, then older Californians, and this year to all adults. These expansions of the Medi-Cal program mean that, as of January 2024, essentially all low-income Californians are eligible for no-cost comprehensive health care coverage.
• Eliminating Medi-Cal premiums for hundreds of thousands of Californians, improving quality and access. Reduce to zero the financial burden for approximately 500,000 pregnant women, children, and disabled working adult Medi-Cal enrollees. Transforming Medi-Cal through CalAIM to provide better outcomes, expand access to services, and reduce disparities.
• Opening the Office of Health Care Affordability to address underlying cost drivers and improve the affordability of health coverage. The Office will work to reduce costs and increase transparency within the health care system, including: developing cost targets, reducing health insurance premiums, and closing equity gaps.