Many Californians Face Uncertainty With Healthcare Coverage

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, November 14, 2025…

• Congress ended the shutdown this week, but it didn’t reach a deal on healthcare. Roughly two million Californians who buy insurance through the state’s marketplace now face steep price hikes after the Trump administration refused to extend enhanced federal tax credits. And some Californians can’t afford to keep their coverage.
• The federal Department of Justice has joined a lawsuit seeking to overturn Proposition 50, the ballot measure approved by California voters last week, that will redraw the state’s congressional maps. 
• Lawyers representing victims of the Eaton Fire say Southern California Edison is using delay tactics in court.

Despite End Of Government Shutdown, Millions Of Californians In Healthcare Limbo

Roughly two million Californians who buy insurance through the state’s marketplace now face steep price hikes after the Trump administration refused to extend enhanced federal tax credits. That’s because Congress didn’t reach a deal on healthcare while passing a spending plan to fund the government.

Marin Miller was born and raised in California. A 38-year-old actor and writer in Los Angeles, Miller adapts scripts and does some voiceover work. But, artificial intelligence has upended that corner of the industry. “I no longer can afford to remain a creative. I have been trying to find a job for two years,” Miller said.

And it’s about to get worse. Miller’s health insurance is increasing by 60% — hundreds of dollars more each month — money Miller and his husband don’t have to spare. “We are suffering. We have not been able to pay our mortgage half the year.”

Miller is like a lot of others right now in California. With Congress still undecided on whether to extend pandemic-era Affordable Care Act subsidies, hundreds of thousands of Californians are preparing for substantial increases in health insurance premiums beginning next year. Carin Lenk Sloane has lived in Davis for the past 26 years. “And now my husband and I are both talking about leaving the U.S. to go to a country where we are not being forced into debt just so that we can have basic healthcare,” she said. Right now, she pays $1,500 a month to cover herself, her husband, and their daughter in college.  Next year, the same high deductible plan through Covered California will be well more than double. “Upwards of $44,000 for us next year,” Sloane said. “We just don’t know where we’re gonna find the money to make that happen.” She’s even considering going without healthcare coverage.

 Justice Department Joins GOP Lawsuit To Block Proposition 50 Map

The Department of Justice on Thursday joined a lawsuit to block new congressional district lines approved by California voters last week through Proposition 50.

Gov. Gavin Newsom championed the congressional maps as an attempt to help Democrats win more seats in the House of Representatives, countering Republican-led gerrymandering in states such as Texas. But California Republicans argued in a suit filed last week that the maps unfairly advantage Latino voters over other Californians.

The Trump administration joined that lawsuit, asking a judge in the Central District of California to block the new map from taking effect for the 2026 midterm elections. “California Democrats are openly gerrymandering by race in this case,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media platform X. “That’s immoral and illegal.”

Proposition 50 was overwhelmingly approved last week, winning support from 64% of voters. The measure sets aside political lines drawn by an independent citizens commission and enacts a map that could help Democrats flip up to five seats currently held by Republicans — and protect a handful of incumbent Democrats from competitive challenges.

Court Filing Alleges Edison Is Delaying Eaton Fire Litigation And Potential Mediation

Lawyers representing victims of the Eaton Fire allege that Southern California Edison is intentionally delaying litigation and potential discussions to enter into a faster mediation process in order to increase participation in its voluntary payout program . The company denies the allegations.

In a joint case management conference statement filed Thursday afternoon, lawyers with three firms representing Eaton Fire survivors state that Edison has repeatedly delayed trial dates, as well as discussions to enter into a faster mediation process “while, at the same time, peddling their discount settlement program as ‘transparent.’”

“What is abundantly clear is that Defendants [Edison] want to waste judicial resources and subject the community they destroyed to needless delay,” the statement reads.

The lawyers argue that Edison International Chief Executive Officer Pedro Pizarro has repeatedly stated publicly that Edison’s equipment likely sparked the Eaton Fire. The filing also says, as further evidence of the company’s belief it started the fire, that Edison entered into an agreement with an undisclosed insurance company to pay them back for Eaton Fire losses. Edison denies the allegations, calling them “baseless” in the same court document. The company argued that the investigation into the cause of the Eaton Fire needs to be completed before entering into mediation and that the plaintiffs’ characterization of the delays are “misleading and misplaced.”