Health insurance in California.

Covered California is the front door, and it is a wider door than most states

One application decides both Covered California and Medi-Cal eligibility.

California runs its own Marketplace rather than using HealthCare.gov, and the practical difference shows up in the calendar. Open enrollment here runs November 1 through January 31. In the states that use HealthCare.gov the federal window closes January 15, so a Californian who misses the middle of January still has two more weeks. Enroll by December 31 and coverage starts January 1. Enroll in January and coverage starts February 1. One more date that only applies to people who already have a Covered California plan: you can renew or switch starting October 1, a month before open enrollment opens to everyone. Source: Covered California rate announcement, July 21, 2026.

Covered California and Medi-Cal share one application. You do not have to guess which one you qualify for before you apply, and there is no separate form if the answer turns out to be Medi-Cal. That matters because California expanded Medicaid, so Medi-Cal reaches adults up to 138% of the federal poverty level, and the gap that traps people in Alabama and Texas does not exist here.

• We price the subsidy first, always. Your premium tax credit depends on your projected income for the coverage year, not last year's tax return, so the estimate you file is the number that decides your cost.
• A subsidy does not fix a network. California plans are heavily HMO and EPO, and the specialist you rely on may sit outside the plan that looks cheapest. We check your doctors against each plan before you choose, not after.
• Covered California is not the only place these plans are sold. The same carriers sell comparable coverage off the exchange, but premium tax credits exist only through Covered California, so going off-exchange means giving up the subsidy.

California does not allow short-term medical, and that is worth understanding

Banned since 2019. If someone offers you one here, something is wrong.

In Arizona a short-term medical plan can run up to 36 months, and shorter versions are sold in Alabama, Texas, and to a very limited degree in Oregon. California does not allow short-term medical at all. Insurance Code section 10123.61, added by Senate Bill 910, bars any insurer from issuing, selling, renewing, or even offering a short-term limited duration policy in California, and it has been in force since January 1, 2019. The ban covers any policy that expires less than twelve months after it starts.

We tell you this for two reasons. The first is that if you have read about short-term coverage as a way to bridge a gap, that route is closed here. You should plan around a special enrollment period instead. The second is safety: if anyone offers to sell you a short-term health plan in California, that is a reason to stop and check who you are dealing with.

• Losing coverage opens a 60-day window. That is usually the right answer to a gap in California, and you can enroll in the 60 days before a known end date rather than waiting for it to happen.
• Short-term coverage would not have satisfied California anyway. The state has its own individual mandate, and short-term plans do not count as minimum essential coverage, so buying one would have left a penalty exposure on top of thin benefits.
• Dental, vision, and life are a different matter. Those are sold outside Covered California, they are not affected by this ban, and we offer them.

Carriers and networks in California

Your county decides your choices far more than your metal tier does.

Through Covered California the major carriers include Blue Shield of California, Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente, Health Net, and Molina Healthcare. Which of them you can actually choose is set county by county, and the spread is wide. A household in Los Angeles or the Bay Area may have several carriers to compare. A household in a rural northern county may have one or two, and in that case the real decision is about networks and deductibles rather than about which company to pick.

California also standardizes plan benefits by metal tier, which is unusual. Two Silver plans from different carriers have to share the same deductible, copays, and out-of-pocket maximum. That sounds like it makes shopping simple, and it does remove one variable. But it also means the entire difference between two plans at the same tier comes down to the network and the drug formulary. Those are exactly the two things a price comparison site will not check for you.

California requires you to have coverage, and the state enforces it

A state penalty applies, collected by the Franchise Tax Board.

The federal penalty for going uninsured has been zero since 2019, but California reinstated its own individual mandate effective January 1, 2020. If you go without minimum essential coverage and do not qualify for an exemption, the Franchise Tax Board assesses a penalty when you file your California return. It is calculated month by month, so a partial year of coverage means a partial penalty.

We are not going to quote you a dollar figure here, because the amount is indexed and changes, and a stale number on a tax penalty is worse than no number. The Franchise Tax Board publishes a penalty estimator, and if the mandate is part of your decision we will walk through it with you against your actual situation. Exemptions exist for affordability, for short gaps, and for hardship, and they are worth checking before assuming you owe anything.

• Employer coverage, Medi-Cal, and Medicare all count. The mandate asks whether you had minimum essential coverage, not where it came from.
• A gap under three consecutive months is generally forgiven. Which is another reason a special enrollment period usually beats going bare while you wait.

Where we serve, and who you actually get

One licensed agent, start to finish, statewide.

We are licensed across California for health and life coverage, and we work with individuals, families, and the self-employed in all 58 counties. We have written up three places in more detail: health insurance in San Jose, where the local plan filed the biggest increase in the state; Sacramento, where 2027 is landing under the state average and a local insurer is rejoining the small business market; and San Diego, where switching plans is worth about ten points. We are not a call center and we do not route you to whoever is free. The person who takes your first call is the person who compares your options, handles the enrollment paperwork, and is still your contact at renewal.

We are based in Phoenix, Arizona, and we say that plainly rather than implying a California storefront we do not have. Health insurance is worked screen to screen and over the phone in every state we operate in, and California is no different. What matters is that we are licensed here, that we know which rules are specific to California, and that you can verify the license before you tell us anything about yourself.