374,000 cancel their health coverage

Facing more costs and loss of subsidies, many in state’s middle class sacrificing insurance.

- MELODY PETERSEN

MEL MELCON Los Angeles Times SOME 374,000 people under Covered California canceled coverage in the first three months of the year.

Facing higher premiums and the loss of federal subsidies, 374,000 people with health insurance from the state marketplace known as Covered California canceled their coverage in the first three months of the year, according to government statistics.

The cancellations amount to 19% of those who had renewed their policies on the state marketplace during open enrollment, state officials said. Those cancellations are higher than in the past three years when they ranged from 13% to 15% of those who renewed.

Jessica Altman, executive director of Covered California, attributed the jump in cancellations to the expiration of enhanced federal subsidies that caused the cost of a plan to leap for most middle-class Californians.

“We expect coverage losses to increase through the year,” she said.

Overall, Covered California had 1.8 million enrollees in February, down from 1.94 million the year before — a decline of 7%.