Colorado Counselor Faces $903 ACA Bill, Considers Living in Cardboard Box Instead

KEY POINTS

•CJ Richey, a 60-year-old addiction recovery counselor from Colorado, saw her ACA premium rise from $265 to $903 in 2026.
•The expiration of enhanced ACA subsidies on December 31, 2025, caused millions, including CJ, to face skyrocketing insurance costs.
•To manage, CJ cut spending, canceled all streaming, rearranged payments, and is considering dropping insurance coverage altogether.

CJ Richey, a 60-year-old addiction recovery counselor in Colorado, saw her ACA marketplace premium skyrocket from $265 to an eye-watering $903 in 2026 after enhanced subsidies expired on December 31, 2025. Self-employed and sans company healthcare, CJ’s now theatrically debating skipping all doctor visits, because after hitting an $8,000 deductible, the only emergency she’ll call for is a call for help paying the bill. To survive, she’s dining on a diet of austerity: moving car payments like Tetris blocks, canceling all streaming and social plans, and praying Mark Cuban's CostPlus Drugs actually costs plus sanity. Meanwhile, 1.4 million Americans already dropped their plans this January, making the ACA marketplace feel less like affordable care and more like a national escape room from medical finances.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

When your ACA premium outpaces your Netflix bill by $600 and healthcare feels like a luxury yacht in the Bahamas, maybe just hold your breath. Spoiler: Doctors are now the new Prada.

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