For Californians Drowning in Healthcare Costs, Governor’s Race Offers Few Answers

When Ashley Porter began slurring her speech one October day four years ago, doctors suspected a stroke. A spinal tap, an MRI, dozens of blood draws, another MRI, and a night spent at the hospital were followed, finally, by an answer: Porter had multiple sclerosis. Her shock turned to outrage, she said, when she received the roughly $180,000 hospital bill, even though insurance covered most of it. Porter and her husband have insurance through two separate employer plans yet have spent at least $75,000 a year — roughly a quarter of their gross income — on medical expenses since her diagnosis. “It is terrifying,” said Porter, who works in transportation sales in the San Francisco Bay Area. “I can’t imagine having this disease and not making the kind of income that we make.” With health insurance premiums and hospital prices rising faster than inflation, more than 40% of adults nationally struggle to afford their care and, like most, want the government to address it. The average premium for a California family with employer-sponsored coverage has hit nearly $28,400 a year, up 24% since 2022, much more than workers’ wages. Amid skyrocketing healthcare costs, the gubernatorial candidat...