Our impact in California

In this section

Public policy

Learn more by visiting our Institute for Health Policy.

Get updates on our public policy perspectives

Kaiser Permanente was founded in California in 1945. Today, we provide care and coverage to 12.5 million members, including over 9.4 million Californians.

Our award-winning way of providing health care makes sure that doctors, hospitals, and other health services like pharmacies work closely together.

This teamwork helps keep patients healthy and offers them care when they need it. It also makes things easier and more convenient for our members — and keeps costs down. Our approach is part of why we’re one of the top health care organizations in California, with many top-rated hospitals.

Kaiser Permanente is the largest private employer in the state. We have more than 18,177 physicians and 180,930 employees, including 130,500 union members in California.

Diversity and inclusion are important to us. We’re proud to be recognized as one of the Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion and an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader. We consistently earn a spot in the DiversityInc Top 50 Hall of Fame.

As a nonprofit, we do more than just provide high-quality health care services. Our mission motivates us to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.

We use our resources and work with our partners to make our communities healthier and fairer for everyone. In 2022, we committed $1.9 billion to improve the lives of Californians across the state. Learn more about these efforts in our annual Community Health Snapshot.

Key issues

We’re dedicated to a future in which every Californian has access to high-quality health coverage. Already, 94% of Californians have some form of health coverage. We’re focused on bridging the gap to achieve 100% coverage, also known as universal coverage.

We support expanding health coverage to all Californians by building on what works, like strengthening Covered California, making Medi-Cal available to more people, and tackling things that make health care expensive, such as the cost of prescription drugs.

Our work toward universal coverage also includes an agreement with the state to expand our geographic presence in Medi-Cal and the number of enrollees we serve

We’re making mental health and addiction treatment more accessible for everyone in California.

Since 2020, have spent over $1.1 billion to improve our mental health services.

We hired nearly 600 new therapists and expanded our network to include more community therapists.

We will continue to grow and diversify our mental health workforce. We’ll also continue to promote policies that ensure people have access to high-quality mental health and addiction care that is safe, timely, effective, equitable, and patient-centered.

We’ve also invested $195 million in new clinics, with 329 new offices for mental health professionals.

We’re concerned about the high cost of prescription drugs and how it affects our members.

We provide safe, effective medication at a good value by:

Using the most current, evidence-based research to choose the drugs we cover
Negotiating prices
Using generic and biosimilar drugs
Keeping track of safety and outcomes

As a health plan, provider, and pharmacy in one, we have a diverse perspective on the prescription drug marketplace. This informs and shapes our approach to public policy, with a clear focus on making prescription medications safer, more effective, and more affordable for everyone.