The Overview

If you have hepatitis C and carry health insurance in California, your insurer can no longer make you jump through prior-authorization hoops before you can get the drugs that treat it. California's hepatitis C bill, AB 1843, became law when Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed it Sept. 27. A 2020 study in *PLOS ONE* found that providers identified insurance authorization as a major obstacle that could delay the start of hepatitis C treatment. The World Health Organization says direct-acting antivirals can cure more than 95 percent of people with hepatitis C, though access to diagnosis and treatment remains a challenge. ​

What the Law Does

Health care service plans, which the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 regulates, and health insurers may not require prior authorization for direct-acting antiviral drugs that are medically necessary to treat hepatitis C. Prior authorization is a process insurers use to require a doctor to get approval before prescribing a treatment; critics say it can delay or block care even when a drug is proven to work. The law does not require plans or insurers to cover all therapeutically equivalent versions of those drugs without prior authorization.

Golden Rule Services, a Sacramento-area organization, said the law is expected to help Californians begin treatment sooner, according to Golden Rule Services. Getting started faster matters because hepatitis C, if left untreated, can lead to serious liver damage over time.

Legislative Status

Asm. Sade Elhawary (D-CA-57) sponsored the bill. The Assembly Health Committee passed it 12-2 on April 21; the Assembly Appropriations Committee passed it 10-2 on May 6; the full Assembly passed it 57-13 on May 21; and the Senate Health Committee passed it 8-1 on June 24. Across those four recorded votes, the bill drew 87 yes votes and 18 no votes.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation celebrated the Legislature's passage of the bill and urged Newsom to sign it, calling it a measure that would remove an insurance barrier to hepatitis C curative drugs, according to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. After it became law, the foundation described it as an important step to prevent prior authorization for hepatitis C treatment.

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