Their health care premiums have skyrocketed. And now, as health insurance costs rise, women and LGBTQ+ people across the country are scrambling.

Some are pushing off paying for retirement, or dipping into their savings. Some are looking for extra work to afford plans that they aren’t sure will actually cover their health care bills. And some are planning to go without insurance, hoping they won’t get too sick to manage medical expenses on their own.

The chaos and uncertainty are the result of a monthslong impasse, after Congress let subsidies lapse that would keep down the price of health insurance on the Affordable Care Act’s individual marketplace, a key source of coverage for millions of people who don’t get insurance from work or through government programs like Medicare or Medicaid.

Polling data from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research, polling and journalism organization, found that women are more likely to say that they cannot afford rising health care costs. Another KFF poll found that 52 percent of LGBTQ+ adults say it’s difficult for them to afford health care costs. Both women and LGBTQ+ people typically earn less than straight men, and they are at greater risk of many chronic health conditions that make going without coverage particularly burdensome as health insurance costs rise.

Though lawmakers are still trying to make a deal that might restore the subsidies, hope is fading that they will be able to negotiate a renewal this year. But Americans have already had to make choices about what kind of insurance they will use this year — if they stay insured at all.

The 19th spoke with six people about how they are navigating rising health care costs right now.

The Impacts of Health Insurance Costs Rising: Rena Bumbray-Graves' Story

Rena Bumbray-Graves is a home care worker in Virginia, a job largely held by Black women and Latinas. At 63, she’s two years removed from Medicare eligibility. Last year, she purchased health insurance for both herself and her husband through the individual marketplace, paying just over $500 per month.

She received a letter this month notifying her about her change in payment due. To keep their insurance, she would pay more than $1,300 each month as health insurance costs rise.

“I was shocked, to say the least,” she said, demonstrating the harm of rising health care costs.

Read the full article about rising health insurance costs by Shefali Luthra, Barbara Rodriguez, and Orion Rummler at The 19th.