www.montereycountynow.com JANUARY 8-14, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 11 Stanton Ruese had long been planning for retirement. Those plans were forced to move up in timeline when, at 59, he was laid off by the Monterey Bay Aquarium at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, after building and maintaining exhibits there for 29 years. During those years, Ruese had enrolled in health insurance through work. It was only after the layoffs that he went insurance shopping on Covered California, the state’s exchange, established by the Affordable Care Act. “It was pretty seamless,” he says. He didn’t even realize it at the time, but newly approved federal subsidies were helping to keep premiums low for customers just like him. It was an initiative approved by Congress due to the volume of people losing jobs and employer-provided health insurance. “That allowed middle-income people to get help for the first time,” Covered California Executive Director Julie Altman says. “Covid was the catalyst to address affordability concerns that preexisted.” While the ACA had previously included tax credits for the poorest customers, the eligibility ceiling went up, meaning more affordable plans for people like Ruese. That contributed to a surge in enrollment. Nationally, the number of people enrolling in such plans more than doubled from 2020 to 2025, from 11 million to 24 million. In Monterey County, enrollment rose by 2,580 new enrollees, or 18 percent, to 15,970 people. Ruese, in Seaside, was one of them. He’d already done some thinking about the cost of health insurance. He and his wife, Donna Penwell, got married in 2014 for health insurance, he says only half-joking. (“It saved me a lot of money,” he says. Penwell adds: “My mom was happy.”) By the time Ruese lost his job, Penwell was newly enrolled in Medicare. He found he could afford decent insurance on Covered California—a silver plan provided some specialist coverage, crucial based on his history of skin cancer. Faced with rising costs, he later switched to Kaiser. But nothing prepared them for the spike they would see starting Jan. 1, when the federal subsidies expired, even though they had been closely tuning into the news about the standoff in Congress during the government shutdown. “The Democrats were asking for three years, and maybe would compromise for one year,” Penwell recalls. “When they settled, I said, ‘We’re screwed.’” For Ruese to renew his silver plan, the monthly premium— what you pay just for the privilege of having insurance—would go from $381 to over $3,000. “We did contemplate not going on insurance,” Penwell says. “If we were in our 20s, we would—we couldn’t at our age.” Instead, they opted for a bronze plan at $1,219 per month, with no specialist coverage until a high deductible is met. Ruese saw a dermatologist in December and is hoping to make it to his 65th birthday in October—marking Medicare eligibility—without needing to see a specialist. The change took effect Jan. 1, and they are now looking to adjust their household budget. “We are almost $1,000 poorer a month this month,” Penwell says. “I’m not exactly sure how we’re going to do it.” They’re reviewing TV streaming subscriptions, and will keep travel to just essential family visits, nixing hopes of going to Hawaii. Ruese is selling his motorcycle. There’s always a chance their rent could go up. They are careful to say they don’t want sympathy—they are not poor, and are looking to shave luxuries from their life, not necessities. “We are very, very fortunate to be in the place we are in,” Penwell says. But middle-class people like them are in the worst position for this new world after the end of enhanced subsidies. Altman says, “The worst-case scenario is someone in their early pre-Medicare 60s who lives in a very high-cost region and makes just too much to earn the tax credit.” Ruese is just one of nearly 2 million Covered California patients facing premium spikes. He is frustrated by Congress’ failure to protect people like him, a former Republican with libertarian leanings, who have worked and saved. He’s written to U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, but expects little to change. “I’m sure he gets thousands of letters like mine,” Ruese says. “I am unfortunately just part of the masses.” Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com. Sick Joke After subsidies expire, skyrocketing health insurance premiums are here. By Sara Rubin WORK IN PROGRESS…Being a cephalopod columnist, Squid knows the value of getting work done in advance. But Squid also keeps Squid’s rough drafts out of public view—that public including Squid’s editor. But the owner of Nami in downtown Monterey sees things differently. Not aware of Nami? The restaurant concept is being phased in—the name went up on outside walls in the final days of December, but the menu is a few weeks away—to replace Cibo. The Nami website— namimonterey.com—went live well in advance, with stunning stock images of food, a cobblestone road overlooking a foggy coastline, two views from floorto-ceiling windows of uninterrupted ocean views and the like. However, from inside of Cibo, guests look out upon Alvarado Street and Portola Plaza. Nami owner Dudley Ashley, who is also responsible for Pangaea Grill and Sur in Carmel, tells Squid’s colleague that revealing a rough draft website served a purpose, creating intrigue. “People have been calling, stopping by,” he says, wanting to know what was really behind those unlikely images. “I like that.” So it turns out that artificial can be intelligent. Given Ashley’s track record, Nami will be an exciting restaurant. And Squid is now rethinking Squid’s attitude toward rough drafts. Squid will try telling Squid’s editor what the Nami menu page promises the public: “The wait will be brief.” SLOW FLOW…In Squid’s undersea lair, the Gregorian calendar is observed only by creatures with deadlines set by human editors. In the world of California American Water’s desalination plant in Marina, it’s a new year, same old thing. That includes a 2020 lawsuit against Cal Am and former sand mining company Cemex, in which the City of Marina and Marina Coast Water District argue that Cal Am does not have the water rights needed to pump brackish water from the former mine property to the Peninsula. A trial before Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills is ongoing, with various legal debates along the way about who can testify. (When Marina Coast’s attorney called Public Water Now founder and chief Cal Am antagonist George Riley to the stand, Cal Am was opposed, and Wills agreed. Riley was dismissed.) The latest hiccup came when Marina moved to disqualify Robert Abrams, a technical expert Cal Am intends to call to the stand, on the basis that he previously worked for the city. (It appears to Squid that there’s a relatively small pool of water consultants.) On Dec. 29, Wills denied the motion and ruled that Abrams can testify. That means turning the page to a new calendar year, for more of the same saga. Squid will refill Squid’s bucket with shrimp-flavored popcorn to watch it all slog out. THE LOCAL SPIN SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “We are almost $1,000 poorer a month.” SEND SQUID A TIP: squid@montereycountynow.com
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==