Medical Bills Now Top Housing as California's Biggest Financial Worry, Survey Shows

Californians worried more about unexpected medical bills than housing costs for the first time since 2022, according to a new survey that highlights shifting financial anxieties across the state.

Two-thirds of Californians said they worry about affording unexpected health care bills, while 48% worried about paying their rent or mortgage, according to the annual survey by the California Health Care Foundation, an Oakland-based nonprofit organization.

“It is shocking, actually,” said Kristof Stremikis, director of market analysis and insight at the foundation, given the high costs of housing and groceries in the state.

The survey marks a significant shift from recent years. In 2023 and 2024, Californians were most concerned about paying for gasoline and other transportation costs, when gas prices had spiked past $6 per gallon in the Bay Area.

The last time anxiety about surprise medical bills topped the survey was in 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, according to the foundation, which conducts the survey annually with nonpartisan pollsters at the University of Chicago.

For Concord resident Lorraine DaRosa, 69, the medical-bill stress reflects her daily reality. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer about 20 years ago and underwent surgery that left her cancer-free. But the procedure came at a steep price: DaRosa said she’s on the hook for at least $70,000 in debt, something she and her husband — a warehouse worker — struggled to afford while paying the mortgage on their mobile home.

DaRosa said her medical debt has only swelled since then, even though she is insured by Anthem Blue Cross through her husband’s employer.

“It’s anxiety-inducing,” she said.

Several factors contributed to heightened health care concerns, according to the survey. Federal cuts to the safety net health insurance program for low-income people in President Donald Trump’s signature One Big, Beautiful Bill Act are expected to increase the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured, experts said.

The pollsters conducted their survey in October and November, when health care expenses took center stage in U.S. politics during the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. Democrats in Congress tried and failed to force Republicans to extend tax credits that offset the cost of insurance purchased under the Affordable Care Act and generated $2.5 billion in savings for Californians.

Since those credits expired at the end of 2025, new enrollment in California’s health insurance marketplace dropped 32%, state officials said this week.

Health insurers also raised premiums for subsidized and employer-sponsored plans at the beginning of the year, in part because those tax credits expired and due to widespread use of expensive medications such as Ozempic, according to the survey.

Californians expressed dissatisfaction with recent policy changes. Just 1 in 10 Californians thought the Big, Beautiful Bill would have a positive impact on their family’s ability to afford and get health care, the survey found.

Even registered Republicans showed lukewarm support: 42% said they favored the law, 45% said they weren’t sure and 13% said they had an unfavorable opinion, according to the survey.

A separate recent poll by the nonpartisan research group KFF found U.S. residents were most worried about health care expenses, and a majority expected to pay more for care this year.

With funding from the California Health Care Foundation, the Chicago pollsters surveyed 2,552 adults in California. The sample was designed to represent the state’s population, and the survey’s margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.

The findings suggest health care costs will likely be a top issue as Republicans and Democrats campaign for control of Congress this year.