About 3 million Californians — including 146,900 in the four-county Sacramento area — will be eligible for premium tax credits to help them pay for health insurance next year, according to a new study by Families USA. The subsidies will be paid directly to the health plans in which individuals and families enroll, offsetting the total cost of premiums. This way, they don’t have to lay out the money up front and go to the IRS to recoup some of it.