Covered California Explained: What 2026 Changes Mean for You

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All right, everybody, we're back with Up to Speed. It's Samantha here,
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and I'm joined with two incredible guests, John and Mary Kananen,
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who are health care gurus who are going to help us break down the ACA,
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which is the Affordable Care Act.
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And specifically, we're going to be chatting a lot about today,
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Covered California. How are you two doing?
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Great. How are you? I'm fired up because this is a topic I know very little
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about, but it's a top of mind of pretty much a lot of Californians out there,
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not only in the private market buying health insurance, but also agents selling it.
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So we've got a lot to dive into today.
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I just want to start and set the table with what exactly is Covered California and who does it serve?
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Cover California is California's exchange for the ACA where people can go and get APTC,
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Advanced Premium Tax Credits, or Premium Assistance if eligible, if they're eligible.
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Anyone can go there, but if you're eligible, that's the only place you can go
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to receive the assistance.
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California is a little different also because they still offer the cost-sharing
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reductions that help lower the out-of-pocket expenses for individuals below
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the 250 percent federal poverty level.
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So things like their deductibles, their co-pays, co-insurance,
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out-of-pocket taxes are reduced if they are eligible.
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Okay. So that's a lot to digest. So that just sets our table for the rest of the chat here.
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So a lot of what we're hearing in the news is a lot of the fights with,
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you know, why the government's shut down, not working, or, you know,
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whatever's going on in Washington.
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A lot of this has to do with health insurance across the board,
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but, you know, focusing really just on a granular level here in California,
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you know, what are some of the biggest changes or updates that we know about the 2026 year upcoming?
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So the addition of the new federal bill has on average increased premiums for
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individuals utilizing the ACA, especially anyone above the 400 percentile.
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On top of the annual insurance provider increases of 8 to 10 percent,
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which makes the changes from 2025 to 2026 look way more drastic.
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So pretty much cost sharing reductions are going back to like pre-COVID amounts.
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Which is interesting because here we are five years later. You know,
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a lot of uncertainty is about these federal tax credits.
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And do you guys have any thoughts and feelings about what that really means
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to the normal human being who needs that broken down into normal language?
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So the bill has increased premiums across the board, right?
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Individuals that are, you know, lower on the federal property level chart are
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seeing, you know, not that big of increases, whereas the higher income you get,
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the higher increases you get overall, right?
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And a lot of people that were getting assistance at a 400 percentile or higher
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are now completely eliminated.
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So for most of those families, it's like I said, it's a drastic, drastic change.
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So, yeah, along with everything else that's going up, right? Yep.
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Talk to us about specifically what California at a state level is doing to offset these premiums.
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Well, California has set aside $190 million,
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and they've decided they're either going to use it to reduce the premiums for people below 165%.
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So at 138 to 165, below 138%, you go to Medi-Cal.
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It's a $0 premium. Once you have 138, you start receiving assistance.
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What they're trying to do there is make it so that,
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from 138 to 165, those people do not see a significant,
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they see really no increase in their premium because of the money from Cover
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California, or from the state of California, sorry.
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And it's also, they're talking about using some of it to help.
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Bring back some of the cost-sharing reductions that have been totally eliminated.
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So when we're talking about percentages, right, let's break that down to like
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annual salary, you know, for someone that's making X amount of dollars,
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you know, what's that dollar amount look like? Who's in that bracket?
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Well, if you are single, it's from about $21,600 to $23,000.
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Thousand four hundred dollars or i'm
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sorry about twenty six thousand
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dollars twenty three thousand four hundred gets what
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is called a silver 94 which is an amazing plan some of those people have zero
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premiums and they have five dollar co-pays and zero deductible and a fourteen
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hundred dollar out of pocket max for the year. Wow.
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So, and then it goes up to the silver 87, but it's only really reaching about
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half of those people, which means it would go up to about 26,
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27,000 a year for a single person.
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Family of four, we're talking between 44,400 and about 50,000 a year.
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And that's for four people in the family.
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So when we're talking about ending the end of the enhanced federal subsidies,
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how does that affect the monthly premiums for people?
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I mean, that's that's like how is that affecting the bottom line for the common folk?
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So for my clients that are losing all assistance, they are experiencing the
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full price rate from the insurance providers, making their premium that possibly
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was like $1,000 for like, let's say a family of four, right?
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Go all the way up to maybe $2,000, $3,000 now because there's no assistance for them anymore.
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So this makes it seem unmanageable from a financial standpoint.
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Like I have multiple clients that still need to get back to me because it was a shock, right? So.
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Yeah. I mean, what are people supposed to do? I mean, that's a big, big jump.
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You know, what are you advising your clients? And for our agents that are out
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there dealing with the same parameter, I mean, these conversations and these
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discussions, I mean, how are you advising them, you know, against their thought
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of like, hey, I should just let this go or I shouldn't have this health insurance?
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So for the most part, we're like exploring different options and plans, right?
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Some of these people are on silver plans. There's always bronze plans that are cheaper.
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There's also a lot of them are on PPOs and they can move to an HMO,
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which are typically cheaper.
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And, you know, there's definitely more options out there.
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The good thing about some of these people that make more money is that they
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have more options available and they might be able to change some of what they
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had before to something different.
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And a lot of this is up top of mind for most people in this space that you guys
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are in is because right now we call that open enrollment, if I'm not mistaken.
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Yes. And what's that time frame look like? And what does that mean for someone
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who's looking to get into the health insurance world as far as a consumer and
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also an agent that's getting into selling it?
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What's our time frame here and what happens in this period? So open enrollment
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for renewals started October 15th and they went till November 1st and then they
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implement a passive renewal,
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which is pretty much an auto renewal, but you need to still contact your agent.
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And then as for everyone else that
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isn't renewing and they're new to cover california the
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open enrollment is from november 1st to
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december 31st if you want a january 1st
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start date and then if you want it's still available all the way up till january
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31st but your start date will be february 1st so open enrollment goes from november
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1st to january 31st in total and then what happens What happens if you are outside of that window?
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Are you just kind of like, you got to wait? No, there's also special qualifying
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life events that you can do.
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So say you moved from another state or within California, you can get health
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insurance or go back and get it through Cover California.
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Or you lost coverage. Say like, you know, you lost your job and you're not going
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to go on COBRA or anything like that. You can go to the ACA or Cover California
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and still get qualified to get health insurance through there.
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So when we're talking to our customers, you know, that are in this enrollment
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moment, you know, what are some of the things that we can, you know, help them?
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I mean, obviously double checking or updating their application to properly, you know,
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state their income and the different parameters and the questions.
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But what are some of the other things that we can help best prepare our customers?
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For the most part, the income is the biggest thing right now,
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since that's what's drastically changing a lot of the assistance that people are getting.
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But another thing could be, you know, no one wants to hear about this, right?
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Because it's hard that people are already getting told that their premiums are going up, right?
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But if you don't have your income in there correctly and say comes tax,
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you need to do taxes for 2026 and you were getting this amount of assistance,
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but they realized you made more than that.
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You're going to get hit again because you got too much assistance throughout the whole year.
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You don't want to get hit twice.
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That's a big nightmare, right? So realistically right now, I'm just trying to
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get to all my clients to dial in their income as close as possible, you know?
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Across, I mean, other things like address and changes like that obviously needs to be in there.
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But that's the biggest tip that I have for agents helping their clients right
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now. Yeah. That's going to give them the most.
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Lying about your income is not going to be serving you because they're going to find out.
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Yes. And once you file your taxes, they're going to see it. Yeah. So. That's a no-no.
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You know, are there tools and resources or like different types of calculators
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and things that people can kind of go online if they're unsure?
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I mean, everybody's kind of, I'm sure, you know, learning about these new numbers.
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I mean, is there places that people can go to to get a little bit more information
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about, you know, what we're talking about here from a consumer standpoint?
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Yes. So for everybody on the Cover California homepage, on the top right hand
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corner, there's a link up there that will say shop and compare.
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And that's a tool that's a calculator that will ask you for like your zip code,
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your ages of your family, how many family members, your income.
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And then you can go and see what your possible assistance will be if you get any or you don't. Right.
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And that will make it easier for you to have an understanding of what you're
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looking at cost wise throughout the year.
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But for agents, there is a in their portal on Cover California.
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There's agent specific tools. there's a
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link on the right hand side of their homepage that will
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give them a slew of different tools
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to use to help them navigate not only you know
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calculators like the shop and compare tool but you
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know any type of like question about the user interface for cover california
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maybe some of the differences things like that so so for the folks that are
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finding that they're you know pricing out of the market for cover california
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they got to go into the you know the Shields, the Aetnas,
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the health, you know, that type of market.
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What are those premiums looking like for folks? Are they, you know,
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what's the market like there? Crazy?
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Are you talking about the market where it's going direct?
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Yeah, like if you can't get into this, you know, if you're not able and eligible
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to work in this Covered California world and you want to go to one of these
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other markets, like as far as... Well, anybody can go through Covered California.
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And I usually suggest if the client is close,
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even though they're not getting assistance but they're close,
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I put them through Covered California because at the end of the year,
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let's say they didn't make as much if they're
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entitled to if they were entitled to premium assistance
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and didn't get it they will get it in their tax return so that's always but
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anybody can go through California cover California well except for Medicare
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once you're 65 and older you should really go to Medicare here.
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There are instances where they can go through Covered California, but it's very rare.
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So basically what happened is with the extension not being renewed,
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those people from 400 up who were receiving the premium assistance no longer
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are getting it and basically are paying the premium that they would have paid
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if they went directly to the insurance company.
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So whether you go directly to the insurance company or through Covered California,
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your premiums are the same for that policy.
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Going to RET gives you a couple more options on policies with different benefits,
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so you can play around more on that.
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But that's it's
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it's the same there's less actually Aetna is not available in most of California
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same with United they're available in some areas the main just like Chinese
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community is in the Bay Area.
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Blue Shield, Kaiser, Health Net, Anthem.
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Those are the big providers in most of the areas.
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Do you think that most people are going to go into an uninsured status because
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they just can't like because they just can't swing it? I mean,
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is that where we're going?
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I don't think most. There will be some.
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I am getting a lot of people saying, how
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am I supposed to manage this though so the thought
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in their head is probably there but they don't want
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to be uninsured right yeah so the
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the worst position is the people who need it yeah absolutely need it because
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they use it and they're wondering how am i going to pay for this the younger
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they are the more likely they are to not.
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Take it. But the older they get, the more likely they are to try to figure out how to make it work.
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Yeah. I mean, I'm just thinking about somebody that's got a chronic illness
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or, you know, has a, you know, cancer diagnosis or diabetes or something,
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you know, that's really requires a lot of visits to the doctor.
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And I mean, if you're going from a thousand dollars to three thousand dollars
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and you're on a fixed income, I mean, come on, like this is not palatable.
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And also what they're doing is they're insuring, like a family of four would
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insure just the person who needs it. Yeah.
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And the others, they're winging it. I mean, I thought property insurance was
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a mess, you two. But now we're at a whole other ballpark.
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Do you, you know, feel like California, how does California compare to the other states out there?
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I mean, that's kind of something that I know very little about.
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I mean, are other states having the same situation, or are we just in our own
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little bubble over here of crazy?
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Other states are in worse situations. Oh.
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California is actually very proactive with the ACA.
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That's why we put $190 million in this year.
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They do more in cost-sharing reductions than most states. Yeah.
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Really, for health insurance, it's more expensive than other states because
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our cost of living in California is higher.
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But if you're going to live in a state for health insurance,
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California is a good one to be in.
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So here's a question for just your opinion only, but you are kind of like Yoda
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when it comes to this mayor.
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So, you know, what's your take on the future of the state-based marketplace
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like the Covered California?
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And, you know, do we feel like we're going to see more local innovation or kind
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of move more into this federal dependency, you know, nationwide?
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I mean, what do you what's your opinion here?
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Nationwide? Well, only 13 states actually have their own exchange.
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The rest of the country, the rest of the states depend on the federal exchange.
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In California, we have our own exchange. change
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California already has been very innovative
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I don't think local levels like city
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or county are going to do anything but California is already very active in
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in the health insurance marketplace so they're going to keep trying to do that
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as much as they can I mean,
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last year, because of Covered California,
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if you went through Covered California for a year insurance and applied for
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assistance, even if you didn't get the assistance,
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you could get a Silver 73, which gave you a $0 deductible.
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Right off the bat. I mean, no other state did that. So it's already pretty active here.
00:18:31.783 --> 00:18:34.963
So I would imagine it to be about the same.
00:18:35.243 --> 00:18:39.383
Yeah. And I think it's also interesting, too, you know, just kind of looking
00:18:39.383 --> 00:18:44.363
at the marketplace where a lot of doctors and a lot of medical professionals
00:18:44.363 --> 00:18:49.143
are kind of switching over to more of a concierge-based service because,
00:18:49.543 --> 00:18:53.503
you know, that's what people, you know, someone can maybe afford to spend,
00:18:53.703 --> 00:18:57.863
you know, $500 to go see a special doctor and nobody has to deal with insurance
00:18:57.863 --> 00:18:59.883
companies and they can get what they need.
00:19:00.203 --> 00:19:05.543
And I hear a lot about that here in the Bay Area of just people and physicians that I know.
00:19:05.723 --> 00:19:09.503
So it's interesting the way the landscape is shifting.
00:19:10.263 --> 00:19:13.003
And it's kind of like, I don't know.
00:19:13.103 --> 00:19:16.283
I mean, at the end of the day, people need to be taken care of when they're sick. Yes.
00:19:16.383 --> 00:19:19.223
Well, concierge doctors are ones who don't
00:19:19.223 --> 00:19:22.763
want to deal with insurance companies they they
00:19:22.763 --> 00:19:25.643
have the luxury of taking just those
00:19:25.643 --> 00:19:28.663
people who can afford it which is not
00:19:28.663 --> 00:19:38.323
most of the people it's the more top percenters um but cover california and
00:19:38.323 --> 00:19:45.583
actually the whole aca was to make it more affordable for everyone not the people
00:19:45.583 --> 00:19:47.763
who already could afford insurance.
00:19:48.143 --> 00:19:53.163
Right. And that's unfortunately the people that suffer the most or the people that need this the most.
00:19:53.892 --> 00:19:57.552
But sitting in your seat, guys, if there was, you know, one thing that you guys
00:19:57.552 --> 00:20:01.392
could change about the current marketplace that you're playing in here,
00:20:01.532 --> 00:20:04.132
like what do you think would be better for consumers?
00:20:04.272 --> 00:20:07.692
I mean, obviously lower rates, but, you know, what do you think would be some
00:20:07.692 --> 00:20:12.772
things that you see that would be helpful if it was implemented?
00:20:13.992 --> 00:20:17.652
For me in particular, I think education is huge, right? Right.
00:20:17.992 --> 00:20:22.292
So most individuals like I talk to them and they're like, I don't even know
00:20:22.292 --> 00:20:23.832
what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm buying.
00:20:24.072 --> 00:20:28.312
I don't understand this. And it's like, well, you don't know what you're buying.
00:20:28.552 --> 00:20:32.292
Are you buying it? Right. Like you should have some idea.
00:20:32.552 --> 00:20:37.052
And they do. Right. They get it. OK, I have insurance to cover me for this. Right.
00:20:37.472 --> 00:20:41.732
But that's the basis of their education. But they don't understand like out
00:20:41.732 --> 00:20:45.412
of pocket maxes, what their deductible means, like all these different terms
00:20:45.412 --> 00:20:49.152
and how to utilize their insurance to the fullest, right?
00:20:49.572 --> 00:20:53.172
Because that's what they're paying for every year, right? And some of them are
00:20:53.172 --> 00:20:58.532
paying thousands of dollars and they should have possibly been on a lower planet
00:20:58.532 --> 00:21:01.852
because they didn't even need to spend the thousands of dollars because they
00:21:01.852 --> 00:21:03.392
don't go to the doctor very often, right?
00:21:03.492 --> 00:21:06.852
So it's just, for me, I mean, this is a life thing too.
00:21:07.132 --> 00:21:11.212
I feel like education is huge for everyone. The more educated you are,
00:21:11.312 --> 00:21:12.972
the better decisions we can make, right?
00:21:13.392 --> 00:21:17.792
Yeah, I think so. I mean, what are the what's the most common thing that people
00:21:17.792 --> 00:21:21.972
don't understand when it comes to dissecting? Is it the deductible?
00:21:22.112 --> 00:21:25.252
Is it the out of pocket? Like what what is the those those are the those are
00:21:25.252 --> 00:21:29.792
the most of the questions are a lot about like, what does that even mean?
00:21:30.052 --> 00:21:32.992
Like, you know, they get like, oh, I go see a doctor. It's this much.
00:21:33.132 --> 00:21:36.152
OK, they can they can see and conceptualize that.
00:21:36.272 --> 00:21:40.052
But it's like, what what is my insurance actually doing for me?
00:21:40.052 --> 00:21:42.372
And when does it like fully kick in?
00:21:42.512 --> 00:21:45.932
Like does it fully kick in? They don't know that it fully kicks in once you
00:21:45.932 --> 00:21:47.052
hit your out-of-pocket max, right?
00:21:47.172 --> 00:21:52.732
Like things like that that could help people realize what they're paying for, right?
00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:57.599
Well, and a little bit of this education moment, I think, lies in the hand of
00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:58.999
the insurance professionals.
00:21:59.219 --> 00:22:02.119
And so I think if you're listening to this and you're like, hey,
00:22:02.199 --> 00:22:05.299
I need to know a little bit more about X, Y, or Z, or hey,
00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:09.619
you know, I think that it might be useful to my client base if I,
00:22:09.699 --> 00:22:13.939
you know, hosted a webinar or something or, you know, a lunch and learn with
00:22:13.939 --> 00:22:16.599
my people to help them understand a little bit more.
00:22:16.699 --> 00:22:19.759
I mean, going to these places, getting these resources, you know,
00:22:19.859 --> 00:22:22.979
talking to people that are the pros that can help, you know,
00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:26.839
kind of dissect and navigate, I think is so key because you never stop learning.
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.599
I mean, hello, that's what that's what we do here at Lightspeed is we teach
00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:33.759
we teach agents how to be better, faster and stronger in their practice.
00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:39.379
But, you know, this is something that affects 100 percent of the people out there.
00:22:39.539 --> 00:22:42.879
I mean, health insurance is something that, you know, whether you're sick now
00:22:42.879 --> 00:22:45.279
or you're sick later, you're going to have to go to the doctor at some point.
00:22:46.639 --> 00:22:49.719
And you better you better make sure you've got the proper insurance there
00:22:49.719 --> 00:22:54.459
otherwise i mean if you don't have insurance i mean mary like what is a normal
00:22:54.459 --> 00:22:56.879
if you got to go to the emergency room and you don't have insurance and say
00:22:56.879 --> 00:22:59.879
you break an arm or something i mean what are we talking about it's hundreds
00:22:59.879 --> 00:23:04.919
i feel like well if you don't have insurance you're gonna they're gonna ask
00:23:04.919 --> 00:23:08.499
you what your income is and put you on medi-cal if they can because then they
00:23:08.499 --> 00:23:09.519
know they're getting paid,
00:23:10.637 --> 00:23:16.837
They also have what are called cash prices. Still, you're looking at five grand. Yeah. Easy.
00:23:17.697 --> 00:23:24.797
You have a baby? Forget about it. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. You could buy a house.
00:23:25.597 --> 00:23:32.057
Yeah? Well, for instance, my husband had a double knee replacement.
00:23:32.497 --> 00:23:38.237
The hospital charged $575,000.
00:23:39.077 --> 00:23:44.057
Dang. Yeah. That's, I mean, that's, let's say, that's a big number. Yeah.
00:23:44.637 --> 00:23:48.397
That's a big number. You know, they ended up not getting close to that.
00:23:48.557 --> 00:23:51.317
They got $48,000 from the insurance company.
00:23:51.697 --> 00:23:54.197
But what if you don't have insurance?
00:23:55.864 --> 00:23:59.384
It's just I wonder this this is just an opinion question again,
00:23:59.584 --> 00:24:03.044
too, because a lot of this is these hospitals and these medical providers charging
00:24:03.044 --> 00:24:05.384
these ridiculous astronomical prices.
00:24:05.404 --> 00:24:09.304
I mean, will there ever be any laws and legislation on, hey,
00:24:09.464 --> 00:24:13.524
like, let's let's have a cap on these services, because I really do feel like
00:24:13.524 --> 00:24:16.924
it's just kind of a free for like they're going to just throw out whatever number
00:24:16.924 --> 00:24:18.924
they can they could possibly get away with.
00:24:18.924 --> 00:24:25.044
Well, I have to say the cash price that they have is typically more along the
00:24:25.044 --> 00:24:29.044
lines of what the insurance companies pay them.
00:24:29.224 --> 00:24:32.524
It might be a little more, but it's along those lines.
00:24:32.724 --> 00:24:36.184
So there is that option, the cash option.
00:24:36.704 --> 00:24:45.744
But one of the downfalls of the ACA was not putting caps on what doctors could
00:24:45.744 --> 00:24:50.044
charge, what hospitals could charge. and what insurance companies could charge.
00:24:50.984 --> 00:24:54.524
Yeah. Do you think that everybody can figure that out when they decide to get
00:24:54.524 --> 00:24:57.624
back to work there in Washington? Without getting political.
00:24:58.724 --> 00:25:01.964
I don't think they're going to work on that part of it at all.
00:25:02.864 --> 00:25:06.184
Because at the end of the day, I mean, the people that are profiting are,
00:25:06.184 --> 00:25:10.844
you know, these medical providers, in a sense, these hospitals and different things.
00:25:10.964 --> 00:25:14.484
And, you know, for the doctors, it's not like they're pocketing the cat.
00:25:14.484 --> 00:25:18.844
You know, it's not like they're walking away, you know, a winner here either.
00:25:19.304 --> 00:25:21.464
It's mainly hospitals and...
00:25:23.015 --> 00:25:28.415
Drug companies. Yeah. Well, that's another episode, guys. And insurance companies.
00:25:29.515 --> 00:25:33.135
That's another episode. It's not the agents, I'll tell you that much.
00:25:33.735 --> 00:25:38.315
Yeah. And that's another question, too. I know, you know, we've all heard,
00:25:38.495 --> 00:25:41.915
you know, the commissions and how they are paying agents now.
00:25:42.035 --> 00:25:46.435
I mean, what does that look like right now in the health insurance space,
00:25:46.635 --> 00:25:48.835
you know, from an individual standpoint and a group standpoint?
00:25:49.515 --> 00:25:52.755
Group is still pretty standard. what
00:25:52.755 --> 00:25:55.775
it used to always used to be group is that's why
00:25:55.775 --> 00:25:58.595
you will find a lot of agents doing group health
00:25:58.595 --> 00:26:01.715
in the individual market it
00:26:01.715 --> 00:26:04.535
is well certain companies are pretty
00:26:04.535 --> 00:26:11.055
brutal what the agent commission is so if you're going to it's it's more it's
00:26:11.055 --> 00:26:15.595
very rewarding because you're helping a lot of people who didn't know what to
00:26:15.595 --> 00:26:23.515
do and you know people think we're angels but yeah some of the companies do not.
00:26:23.695 --> 00:26:26.115
Some companies are great. They're fine.
00:26:26.575 --> 00:26:33.115
But some are not. Yeah. And it's hard to earn a living just doing individual.
00:26:33.115 --> 00:26:38.015
You also have to start doing groups to make a living out of it.
00:26:38.215 --> 00:26:41.515
Which is tough because, you know, at the end of the day, we're on the front
00:26:41.515 --> 00:26:45.795
lines as agents and brokers, you know, obviously educating our clients,
00:26:45.955 --> 00:26:48.095
walking them through this journey of mess.
00:26:48.415 --> 00:26:52.255
And then, you know, at the end of the day, like, we've got to pay our health
00:26:52.255 --> 00:26:54.315
insurance premiums, too. Right.
00:26:56.090 --> 00:26:59.130
So that that's a whole other, you know, thing to think about.
00:26:59.310 --> 00:27:03.530
So in closing, you know, when you're thinking about like one piece of advice
00:27:03.530 --> 00:27:07.090
you could give, you know, someone that's in your seat that's that's battling
00:27:07.090 --> 00:27:09.070
this battle right now. I mean, what would you say?
00:27:11.470 --> 00:27:18.150
As he takes a deep pause in my seat as as an agent? Yeah. OK.
00:27:19.430 --> 00:27:24.270
Just talk to your clients, you know, make sure that they fully understand what
00:27:24.270 --> 00:27:25.830
the situation's ahead of them.
00:27:26.090 --> 00:27:30.410
So that they can make the best decisions they can make, so that you're serving
00:27:30.410 --> 00:27:32.430
your people the best that you can, right?
00:27:33.210 --> 00:27:38.830
On my standpoint, though, as, you know, helping myself, it's not really much
00:27:38.830 --> 00:27:42.170
I can do better than just trying to be a better person every day, right?
00:27:42.550 --> 00:27:45.750
And help people, so. That's the name of the game.
00:27:45.870 --> 00:27:49.870
And Mary, you know, what would you give advice to the consumer who's just putting
00:27:49.870 --> 00:27:53.010
their head in their hands thinking, you know, how am I going to get through
00:27:53.010 --> 00:27:59.430
this? What are some words of wisdom for someone that's been in this business for a very long time?
00:27:59.910 --> 00:28:07.650
I sit there and I spend a lot of time explaining their options on going to an HMO,
00:28:08.090 --> 00:28:14.970
maybe trying high deductible health plan with an HSA, which is a health savings account.
00:28:16.390 --> 00:28:22.810
And coming up with options for what is going on in their life.
00:28:23.270 --> 00:28:31.450
And really, the people hit hardest by the non-extension are more middle class.
00:28:31.770 --> 00:28:35.730
They're not the poor. It's the middle class.
00:28:36.190 --> 00:28:39.970
And, you know, we all have bills and we all have our style of living.
00:28:40.250 --> 00:28:44.910
But with middle class, it's like going to be really tough.
00:28:45.110 --> 00:28:49.590
But if you can find a solution for less,
00:28:50.716 --> 00:28:56.316
that's what you have to do. The other thing I like to do is make sure all of
00:28:56.316 --> 00:29:02.816
my clients know that the ACA and Covered California are Obamacare.
00:29:03.156 --> 00:29:08.116
Because there's so many people out there that think Obamacare is horrible,
00:29:08.116 --> 00:29:12.376
but they love their Covered California ACA plan.
00:29:12.876 --> 00:29:18.696
And when I tell them it's the same thing as Obamacare, they go, you're kidding.
00:29:19.276 --> 00:29:23.056
Just a different name. It's just a different name. My hat goes off to you both
00:29:23.056 --> 00:29:27.176
for, you know, providing just a little bit of insight to all of us and,
00:29:27.236 --> 00:29:31.296
you know, myself exclusively because I'm just, you know, it's a world I know nothing about.
00:29:31.396 --> 00:29:34.776
And it's a world that I think touches so many people on an individual level
00:29:34.776 --> 00:29:36.276
and also on a professional level.
00:29:36.476 --> 00:29:40.616
So we hope that everybody gets out there and is kept up to speed.