Washington, D.C. — New data from Covered California shows the damage of Republican health care cuts is hitting families across the state hard. After Republicans slashed $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, nearly 374,000 Californians were forced to cancel their coverage. For middle-income families who received no tax credits after Republicans ripped them away, policy cancellation rates more than doubled, rising to 24.3% from 11.9% in 2025. Black Californians are also being hit especially hard, with cancellation rates nearly doubling from 16% in 2025 to 29.4% in 2026.
Nationwide, More than one million Americans were forced to drop ACA coverage entirely, and it will continue to snowball month after month as the Trump-GOP premium hikes become unbearable for more and more families. In response, Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:
“In California, families are being pushed out of their health care coverage because Republicans ripped away the help people depend on to afford coverage, causing premiums to skyrocket beyond what middle-class households can afford. At a time when everything else is more expensive, from groceries to gas to rent, Americans are facing impossible choices: keep their health care coverage or pay for basic necessities. And once again, communities of color are bearing the brunt of these cruel choices by Republicans, with Black Californians seeing some of the steepest coverage losses. This is a full-blown affordability crisis, and it’s only getting worse as more Californians fall behind on premiums and are forced to go without care, all so Trump and Republicans can shower billionaires with more tax breaks.”