Changemakers

Uniting voices. Driving policy. Changing health care for all.

2026

Legislative Policy & Advocacy

Add your voice, connect with others, and take action to shape a better healthcare system for all Californians.

Supported & Co-Sponsored Bills

  • AB 1887 (Zbur, Becker, Caloza) — Prescription Drug Coverage for Rare Disease
    Co-sponsored by the California Chronic Care Coalition
    AB 1887 is designed to eliminate prior authorization and step therapy requirements for FDA-approved rare disease therapies. This bill would ensure faster access to lifesaving treatments by removing insurance obstacles that often delay or interrupt care for Californians living with rare diseases. Rare diseases affect an estimated 1 in 10 Californians and often require immediate and specialized care. Please send your letter of support.
    AB 1887 Sample Support Letter

  • SB 363 (Wiener) Sponsored bill– Health Care Coverage: Independent Medical Review (IMR)
    Sponsored by the California Chronic Care Coalition, Children Now & the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
    SB 363 would require health plans to report coverage denials or reversals to the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), while insurers will report to the Center for Data Insights and Innovation (CDI). Health plans that don’t share accurate data may face penalties. If more than 50% of a plan’s IMRs result in patients receiving the denied care that will also constitute a violation and lead to a fine. The money collected will be used to maintain the database and ensure accuracy.

  • SB 535 (Richardson) Sponsored bill  — Obesity Treatment Parity Act
    Sponsored by the California Chronic Care Coalition and Alliance for Patient Access
    AB 535 would require an individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy that provides coverage for outpatient prescription drug benefits and is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, to include coverage for intensive behavioral therapy for the treatment of obesity, bariatric surgery, and at least one anti-obesity medication approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

  • SB 1199 (Weber Pierson) — Prescription Drug Cost Sharing
    Supported by the California Chronic Care Coalition
    This bill requires that when health insurance companies count how much you’ve paid toward your yearly limit on costs (like deductibles or co-pays), they must include all payments made by you or on your behalf. This includes help you get from drug companies to pay for your medicine. If an insurance company doesn’t follow this rule, they can be fined by the state after a fair process. 

STORIES OF

HEALTH JOURNEYS

Authentic and uplifting, these personal stories inspire understanding, remind us of the strength we all carry and stir us to make things better for those suffering.

HEAR THEIR STORIES

The Future Of

Healthcare

Providing affordable, patient-centered access to all three levels of prevention is cost-effective over the course of the disease or condition by reducing or eliminating unnecessary hospitalizations, improving medication management, surgery, physician visits, recovery and nursing home placement. When prevention is not affordable or too difficult to access, patients forgo necessary testing, prescriptions, or medical visits, and their medical conditions ultimately worsen. Together we can advocate for a healthier future.

Healthcare

Reform

Chronic conditions represent the highest cost of health care dollars with the greatest potential of preventability and those with those conditions need the most care and often have more than one chronic condition.

Yet, treatments are currently disease-specific, implying there are no strategic commonalities and often providers for a patient’s multiple conditions don’t coordinate effectively. This exclusionary filter extends to relationships between policy, provider and disease-specific consumer organizations. In reality, there are macro issues that all of these organizations (and their constituencies) have in common. Few organizations are large enough to affect change at the macro level which includes legislation, regulation and business practice.

The California Chronic Care Coalition’s (CCCC) success has been in bringing these siloed issues and organizations together in membership to share their diverse perspectives of chronic illness, harnessing their commonalities to affect policy change, at the social and legislative levels including state and federal policy.

If you’d like to help with advocacy or learn more about it, send us a note.