Our Advocacy

Liver Coalition Liver Health is Public Health (2)

We advocate for public policies that promote liver health and ensure access to care and treatment for those affected by liver disease. To accomplish this, we educate policy makers and elected officials that represent San Diego County residents at a local, state and federal level.

Often our goals are achieved when working in collaboration with other groups. Our commitment to prevent liver cancer focuses on supporting legislation and developing community-wide strategies that prevent and, if necessary, treat the leading causes; such as viral hepatitis, fatty liver disease, alcohol associated liver disease and rare & pediatric liver diseases.

From time-to-time we focus on special initiatives, such as the Eliminate Hepatitis C San Diego County Initiative, a public-private partnership to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030.

Our presence in Sacramento strengthens our community chairs coordination throughout California and enhances our ability to support state and federal legislative and advocacy priorities.

Our role as a community‑based nonprofit is strengthened by the national leadership of the American Liver Foundation, Global Liver Institute, United Liver, and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, which keeps our advocacy goals grounded in patient‑centered research priorities and collaborative solutions to prevent, treat, and ultimately eliminate liver disease

Our 2026 Legislative Priorities:

Priority Initiatives

Prevent Liver Cancer: Promote policies that help prevent and treat the leading causes of liver cancer; such as viral hepatitis, fatty liver disease, alcohol associated liver disease and rare & pediatric liver diseases and transplant.
Obesity and Liver Health: Promote adequate, fair access to treatment for upstream risk factors for fatty liver disease/metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease like obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic conditions.
Reduce Research Barriers: Reduce barriers to innovative research and necessary treatments for liver disease, including MASH/NASH, by removing biopsy requirements when other effective and approved noninvasive technologies can correctly diagnose.
Chronic Diseases: Support legislation related to chronic diseases with strong medical ties to liver disease, including diabetes, alcohol use disorders, HIV, and sickle cell disease.

Engaged Initiatives

Safe, Fair, and Productive Organ Transplantation: Support a robust, fair, and active organ donation, procurement, and transplantation system by protecting both living and deceased donors, ensuring equitable allocation, rejecting discriminatory practices, and promoting organ donation.
Reasonable Cost and Access to Treatment: Protect patients’ access to life-changing treatments at sensible prices through transparency, proper incentives, and the inclusion of patients’ priorities in decision-making.
Incentivized Research and Development in Rare Disease: Support initiatives that encourage the development of treatments for patients impacted with rare diseases by incentivizing development and distribution of medications.
Access to Medically Necessary Foods: Ensure patients with rare liver diseases that affect specific digestive pathways receive the treatment they need to survive.
Federal Agency Support: Promote robust investment into U.S. agencies that encourage research, development, and innovation into providing patients with services, new technologies, drugs, and other necessary components of health care and patient access care.

Key Policies

Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (S.1973/H.R.4231): Expands coverage of new health care specialists and chronic weight management medications for Medicare recipients to treat obesity, a leading risk factor for MASLD/MASH.
Cure Hepatitis C Act (S.1941): Implements a nationwide elimination program for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the United States.
HELP Copays Act (S.864): Requires health care insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to count payments they receive on a patient’s behalf, including payments from nonprofit organizations or drug manufacturers, toward the patient’s annual deductibles and out-of-pocket limit.
Ian Kalvinskas Pediatric Liver Cancer Early Detection and Screening Act (H.R. 5355): This legislation directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study efforts to improve early detection and treatment of pediatric liver tumors, trends in pediatric liver-transplant wait-list mortality, and the cost-effectiveness of adding simple tools. It also establishes a national education initiative led by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), to provide families plain-language information on early warning signs and the option and safety of living liver donation.
Seniors’ Access to Critical Medications Act (H.R.2484): Allows Medicare patients to receive essential medications by mail or have caregivers and family members pick them up on their behalf. Reported favorably out of committee on April 29 in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Transparency Act (S.526): Bans deceptive and unfair pricing schemes, prohibits arbitrary clawbacks of payments made to pharmacies, and requires PBMs to report to the FTC on how much money they make through spread pricing and pharmacy fees.
Charlotte Woodward Organ Transplant Discrimination Prevention Act (H.R.1520/S. 1782): Passed the House. Take action to support Senate passage here! The bill prohibits organ transplant centers from discriminating against people with disabilities—mental or physical—when determining eligibility for transplant evaluation or placement. It reinforces existing ADA and Section 504 protections by barring categorical exclusions and requiring equal access to evaluation and referral processes.
Living Donor Protection Act (S.1552, H.R. 4583): Ensures living donors do not face discrimination from insurance companies, codifies Department of Labor (DOL) guidance that covers living donors under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in the private and civil service, removes barriers to organ donation, etc.
Honor Our Living Donors Act (H.R. 628, S.957): This legislation will update existing policies by the National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) to ensure that living donors are reimbursed for their expenses without consideration of the recipient’s income. This includes covering lost wages and travel expenses associated with the donation process.