Without an extension of the federal subsidies, researchers at the UC Berkeley Labor Center estimate, Covered California premiums for subsidized enrollees would soar by an average of $967 a year beginning in 2026, and an estimated 69,000 Californians would lose their insurance.

An August report from the University of California-Berkeley found that at least 20,860 California cases of COVID-19 among essential workers could have been avoided, as well as dozens of deaths, if the state had had a sufficient supply of protective gear.