Senate Passes Senator Wiener’s Acupuncture Funding Bill

As the Governor’s May Revise seeks to cut acupuncture funding for Medi-Cal recipients, SB 944 helps protect acupuncture benefits from healthcare cuts.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Senate voted 34-0 to pass Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill (SB) 944, the Acupuncture Access Act. SB 944 enshrines acupuncture as a Medi-Cal provided benefit, helping safeguard this critical treatment from state and federal budget cuts as the federal government takes a wrecking ball to healthcare funding. The bill heads next to the Assembly.

The Governor’s May Revise proposed cutting $5.4 million in Medi-Cal funding for acupuncture in the 2026-2027 state budget. The same cuts were proposed in 2024 and 2025, and in partnership with the California AAPI Legislative Caucus, Senator Wiener led the effort to reverse acupuncture cuts to Medi-Cal coverage. Before that, Assemblymember David Chiu helped restore acupuncture funding in 2016 after it was cut in 2009.

“Keeping acupuncture accessible is critical to ensure everyone can access affordable, safe treatment for chronic pain and other complex conditions,” said Senator Scott Wiener. “Acupuncture is a proven treatment that has been used for thousands of years to manage chronic pain, mental health, addiction and more. For millions of Californians, it is not ‘alternative’ medicine, it is a mainstream treatment. It makes no sense that this critical funding is constantly being targeted by budget cuts, and I’m proud to stand with my colleagues in the Legislature as well as NEMS, the California Acupuncture Coalition, and so many great community organizations across the state to protect it.”

Acupuncture is an effective treatment proven to help chronic pain and other difficult to treat conditions. It is a non-addictive, noninvasive alternative to opioids and other pharmaceutical pain medications that carry significant addiction risk. Millions of Californians rely on the treatment, including tens of thousands of low- and middle-income Chinese San Franciscans who access acupuncture through Medi-Cal.

Despite its proven benefits, Medi-Cal funding for acupuncture has been repeatedly targeted by state budget cuts in recent years — with Senator Wiener and other legislators stepping up each year to block such cuts — and its Medi-Cal classification makes it more vulnerable to federal funding cuts than other benefits like chiropractic care, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. SB 944 would eliminate that inequity, placing acupuncture funding on a level playing field with other essential medical benefits.

SB 944 is sponsored by the California Acupuncture Association (CAC).

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