Acupuncture — a treatment that can relieve discomfort by literally poking needles into human bodies — has a strong following in California. Hundreds of thousands of people, primarily in the Asian community but also veterans and others seeking pain relief, have tried it and many have used it repeatedly.
In the past two years, however, Gov. Gavin Newsom twice proposed cutting acupuncture benefits from Medi-Cal due to budget constraints. Both times, the funding was restored after community pushback, spearheaded by San Francisco State Sen. Scott Wiener.
But acupuncture also requires matching federal funds to qualify as a Medi-Cal benefit — an unreliable source as President Donald Trump seeks to slash federal healthcare funding.
Last fall, acupuncture advocates approached Wiener to lock in coverage. “He said yes without any hesitation,” said Dr. Lin Yang, vice president of the California Acupuncture Coalition.
Within a year, the treatment would soon be firmly embedded in the state’s healthcare coverage.
Wiener’s new bill, SB 944, is called the Acupuncture Access Act. It had its first hearing in Sacramento on Wednesday afternoon and would ensure stable access to acupuncture for low-income residents regardless of shifts in federal funding. It would be a milestone, California acupuncture advocates said.
Wiener has, for years, aimed to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi. He is a leading contender, and a major selling point on the campaign trail is his lengthy list of legislative achievements. At a recent Chinatown candidate forum, Wiener was actually gonged for running over the time limit while reciting accomplishments relevant to the Chinese community.
Assembling Wiener’s list required many days like Wednesday. With renovations under way at the Capitol Building, yesterday’s hearing was held in a smaller Sacramento building several blocks away. Wiener stood quietly off to the side with his usual calm demeanor as his bill moved one step closer to passage. It echoed a promise he made to hundreds of voters in Chinatown two weeks ago: to make sure acupuncture benefits are funded under Medi-Cal.
Sen. Scott Wiener and acupuncture advocates pose for a picture after a hearing for SB 944 in Sacramento on March 25, 2026. Photo by Yujie Zhou.
“In the midst of our opioid crisis in particular, acupuncture is exactly the kind of non-addictive intervention for chronic pain we should be promoting. And in our affordability crisis, this is a far less expensive kind of treatment,” he said. Also, “acupuncture is prominently used in our Chinese American community.”
With SB 944, Medi-Cal would treat acupuncture in line with mental health services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and other critical benefits.
It would also make it more politically difficult if, in the future, the governor or the state legislature aimed to cut the funding. “Basically, when you have hard budget times, the things that are vulnerable are the things that have not demonstrated that they have community support,” said Erik Mebust, Wiener’s communications director.
“Without it, patients often face unmanaged pain, which can lead to increasing reliance on emergency rooms and more expensive interventions for opioid use,” said Dr. LiLi Qiao, director of integrative medicine at North East Medical Services, who testified at the hearing.
Although acupuncture is used for a range of conditions, it’s covered by Medi-Cal only to treat chronic pain. Because it is non-addictive, it’s widely seen as a safer pain management alternative to opioids.
Over 50 supporters, including practitioners, patients’ representatives, and students who are learning to be licensed acupuncturists, travelled to Sacramento to voice their support at the Senate Committee on Health. Some came from as far as the Los Angeles area.
In recent years, over 30,000 of North East Medical Services’ 100,000 patients have used acupuncture, according to Qiao. The number of acupuncture visits North East provided also increased by 13 percent in 2025, reaching a total of 47,000.
Wiener said he only recently tried acupuncture himself after he had a strained muscle in his forearm. He left a satisfied customer.
“Everything that I had been told,” he said, “turned out to be true.”