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
ON THE GOVERNOR’S DESK
- AB 1887 (Zbur) — Prescription Drug Coverage for Rare Disease Sponsored by the California Chronic Care Coalition. Passed Senate Appropriation with author’s amendments. AB 1887 is designed to reduce prior authorization and step therapy barriers 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.
VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR
- AB 539 (Schiavo) — Health Care Coverage: Prior Authorizations Sponsored by the California Chronic Care Coalition
AB 539 would make it easier and faster for people in California with long-term illnesses to get the medical care and medication they need. Right now, doctors spend a lot of time doing paperwork for “prior authorizations,” which slows down treatment. This causes problems for patients with illnesses like cancer or diabetes because delays can make their health worse. The bill will reduce these delays, help doctors spend more time with patients, and improve health outcomes for people who need steady care.
HELD IN APPROAPRIATIONS
- SB 363 (Wiener) Co-sponsored bill — Health Care Coverage: Independent Medical Review (IMR). CCCC’s President & CEO’s statement: CCCC-Statement-8.14.26 SB 363
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). - 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 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.
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.
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.