Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been living through the most consequential public health emergency in a century. We’ve come a long way since March 2020 and have seen significant achievements in medical research, manufacturing, distribution, and communication. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we focused on urgent policy efforts to preserve care and coverage and help to fortify the state’s public health infrastructure. We also continue to play a part in keeping communities healthy by providing and promoting vaccines and boosters and emphasizing continued healthy practices to help avoid the risk of COVID-19 infection.

From promoting equity in education and the workplace and working toward ending systemic racism to supporting policies aimed at preventing youth vaping, helping Californians thrive is core to our mission.

With 93% of Californians benefitting from some form of health care coverage, we believe universal coverage in California is still within reach. We support achieving universal coverage in California by building on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and expanding Medi-Cal to more Californians. That includes an agreement with the state to expand our geographic presence in Medi-Cal and the number of enrollees we serve.

We are dedicated to expanding access to mental health and wellness, and addiction medicine services for all Californians, especially in light of the mental health needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. A top priority is to recruit and train a more diverse and multi-lingual mental health workforce.

We’re supporting legislation to increase transparency and accountability in pharmaceutical drug pricing and enhance the timely entrance of more generic drugs to the market.

We engage directly with the legislature and state administration to promote policies that support high-quality, coordinated care that creates value and makes health care more affordable.