But the OP doesn’t have side businesses or any sort of complex return. So I agree that hiring a CPA to do the tax return seems unnecessary. (Especially when she has little to spare.)
BTW, I wonder if that giant health insurance bill is tax deductible?
And if you can’t squeak by on 78K, how will you ever retire?
I went to their website and plugged in your stated age variables. I used a Sacramento zip code as the default. The difference between the bronze and silver plans for two people of your age is almost 400-500 per month or 5,000 to 6,000 per year. Using Kaiser Silver / Bronze as the default plans for comparison. In your scenario since you are paying 5K-6K more for the silver plan annually vs bronze. If you are both in good health, if I were in your position I would roll the dice and go to the bronze plan. One year of the huge cost savings will cover the deductible difference. I get that CA is expensive but so is MD and I pay less than half of what you do and I’m about the same age (57). You might want to go to an independent insurance agent and see if they can beat those Covered California deals.
Silver 777+762 = $ 1538 monthly
Individual Deductible - $2,000medical -deductible / $250 brand drug deductible
Family Deductible - $4,000medical - deductible / $500 brand drug deductible
Bronze 530+ 519 = 1049 monthly
Individual Deductible - $5,000 deductible for medical & drugs
Family Deductible - $10,000 deductible
I’m going to take the “less than half comment back”. I’m on a Maryland BC-BS bronze plan and pay 310 monthly. You’re a little older and paying a little over 500 (if bronze) each and in one of the most expensive lifestyle states in the union, so the difference is not that great. Plus you’ve got a very large cohort of non-tax paying illegal immigrants that hit your state medical services dollars pretty hard, so your rates are not that mysterious or out of line.
I think a bronze plan would be a better choice for you at his point. At 39,000 each you are at the mid-lower end of combined CA family incomes and the silver plan is little pricey if that's all you are making combined. 78,000 is a quite modest family income in much of CA relative to the cost of living there.
In the end the real issue to all this is that you are in a very expensive state making (for CA) a middle to lower middle class combined income. You need to economize harder on your lifestyle expenses if that’s where you intend to stay.
Not to derail the thread, but that seems really high to me. I live in Scandinavia, make just north of 100k at an average exchange rate, and pay 24 % taxes. 24k. Thats federal, payroll, national insurance, and local. Utilities not included.
Are your taxes really that high? I calculated what you’d be paying here in Norway, and it’d be 19 k assuming no real deductions at all.
Your VAT tax makes of big difference in your real tax rate. While there are some state taxes on purchases there is no VAT rider in the US.
VAt is generally added to cost-of-living though, not taxes. The average wage is 84 k, but cost-of-living, including VAT means it does not go as far.
Lets say internet and cable is $200. Cell phone is $200. What’s the car payment, $600? $600 seems a lot for a 2012 VW. Either you can’t add or you’re getting royally screwed by every service you sign up for.
Plus the pick-up truck to haul the wood around.
It’s one thing if that is your only source of heat.
But if you have a conventional heating system, those wood fires are an entertainment expense. So – that or cable television? 
Is the house paid for? If not, you’ll have tax deductions on the interest - though in the 15% bracket that wouldn’t be all that much.
If you were to sell the house, you’d still have to have a place to live. I don’t know what condos are like near you - purchase cost + monthly fees might well be as much as you’re spending on the house, though insurance might be a lot less especially if you went for a high rise place that was less of a fire risk.
How big is your house? Any chance you could get a housemate? That would defray some of the monthly expenses, admittedly that has its own benefits and drawbacks.
For people saying 78K is a lot - it’s a lot in most parts of the country, but not in the more expensive parts. We’d have a hard time making it on that here (DC suburbs), especially with the kids. If we lived in a bad neighborhood we might manage a rent of 1,500 a month (18,000 a year); take that from 78K and there’s 60K. Assume health insurance + out of pocket of 15K a year (probably not out of line) and that’s 45K. Assume taxes of 30% (social security, state and federal income tax) and that’s another 23K - leaving you with 22K a year. Home maintenance / taxes: say another 6K a year (less of an issue if you’re renting vs. owning of course). You’re down to 16K.
Wanna eat? Our grocery bills are about 1,000 a month. We could probably get that down to 700 (the OP even more as she’s only feeding 2, not 4). That’s 8,400 a year.
That leaves a whopping 8K for: cars, clothing, entertainment, utilities, and so on.
It isn’t impossible - but it isn’t easy either.
I know some seem to think it’s more than enough, but really it’s not. Just imagine if I had a mortgage.
I thought freeing myself from a monthly mortgage payment was going to result in my having lots more money to play with, but it’s just not proving to be the case.
In 2010, my husband cut his hand with his saw. Our share of the bill for that was $3500.00.
The following year, I had to have an MRI and a shot in my neck. I can’t remember exactly how much that cost, but between that and two emergency room visits, my out of pocket expenses just in the last five years has been over $10k.
And we’re both pretty healthy, but accidents happen and bodies fall apart, so I expect to incur lots more medical cost in the future.
The thought of going into debt absolutely terrifies me.
Oh and yes, the wood stove is our primary source for heat.
Maybe I’ll just force the issue with my husband and make him agree to put the house on the market. It’s what I’d rather do anyway. It may result in a divorce, but that might be better for us financially too. 
I’m having trouble comprehending how you are struggling to make ends meet on 78k while “living rural”. I had no trouble making ends meet living in the East Village of Manhattan on less than that. And I was unemployed half the time and partied like a rock star.
It’s all relative I suppose. That was awhile ago, but my wife and I combined make like 4-5 times that. And yet for some reason she hoards napkins from Starbucks to save money.
“living rural” does not mean cost are less. Food is more expensive, gas is more expensive almost everything is more expensive. It has to be trucked to the stores in the rural area. And the truck will travel a lot of miles to deliever to only one store. Living rural can be cheaper if you lower your standard. Live in a much smaller older house.
OK then, but lets be clear here. There’s no hands in the mystery as to where a big chunk of your income is allocated by you. You are quite deliberately deciding to pay for a semi-premium health insurance plan that costs you an EXTRA $ 6,000 dollars per year and which is a huge chunk of your disposable income.
You must start with the health care premium, you appear to have options, use them.
Second, you can cut your TV/Phone expenses significantly. If you drop down to Internet only, you can stream a LOT of TV through an $8 Netflix account. For cellphone, I have for years used my phone sparingly and it only costs me $6-7 a month. No, it’s not a Smartphone, but I can make phone calls when needed.
I vote for moving. We’re approaching that same point too – I’m in my mid-50s and even though I inherited my childhood home free and clear, both my husband and I have little interest in upkeep. Our property taxes aren’t as horrendous as NY/NJ, but they’re up there. I also have moderate arthritis and would like to move to a single-floor place before both my knees and hands give out 
Houses are snapped up quickly in my neighborhood because of its location, whether or not they’ve been updated. For me, it’s a no-brainer. The money we’d get from a sale would pay for a less expensive dwelling in a less expensive town. Many of my coworkers have already done this. Some travel 50 miles one way to our employer because they’ve been priced out of this general area. I’m not sure how I feel about that.