Daily Business Report: Wednesday, July 23 2025
How the GOP budget bill will affect the cost of California health insurance
By Kristen Hwang | CalMatters
Heather Altman quit her corporate job and opened an environmental consulting business in 2014 when the Affordable Care Act made it possible for her to afford independent health insurance. Her monthly premium for a platinum plan was $356.
Today, Altman has downgraded to a gold plan and pays $1,147 per month. That’s a 222% increase over the past decade for less comprehensive coverage. Medical inflation has always outpaced general inflation, but early analyses project premiums will increase even more dramatically as a result of the reconciliation budget recently signed by President Donald Trump, and Altman is worried she won’t be able to pay for health insurance any longer.
“Since the Senate passed this monstrosity I’ve been trying to figure out how I can land on my feet,” Altman said.
The Gavin Newsom Effect: U-Haul Reports Californians Leaving the State in Droves
By Katy Grimes | California Globe
With California Governor Gavin Newsom blatantly denying that California is losing residents and businesses to many other states, and that the state’s outbound migration exceeds inbound migration, it’s time to refresh U-Haul’s January reportshowing that more Californians rented one-way U-Haul trucks to leave the state in 2024, than residents of any other state.
In “Snaky Gavin Newsom Lies Again About California’s Population Decline,” Outkick reports Newsom’s “failed rebrand included an interview with Shawn Ryan, where he attempted to defend himself against reality, this time by denying that Californians are fleeing to other states. He was lying.”
“He claimed on the Shawn Ryan Show and in a social media post that the ‘California exodus is a myth,’ saying that the state has seen population growth in the last two years. He even sarcastically clapped and said it’s ‘bulls***,’ because, as a teenager, swearing makes him cool.”
To fight cancer-causing ‘Erin Brockovich’ toxin, California may give water districts legal cover
By Ryan Sabalow & Brianna Vaccari, The Merced Focus | CalMatters
Lawmakers are poised to give California’s water districts legal cover from lawsuits as they work to meet strict new state standards for a cancer-causing toxic chemical.
It’s called hexavalent chromium, more commonly known as “chromium-6.” Drinking water with trace amounts of the chemical over long periods has been linked to cancer.
Last year, state water regulators approved a nation-leading drinking water standard for the chemical, which is found naturally in some California groundwater. In other areas, chromium-6 leached into the water from industrial sites.
