Health Care & Prescription Drugs

Current Campaigns

Making Health Care Work

California families and businesses are paying more and more for health care every year, while insurers drop or refuse to cover us when we get sick. This year, CALPIRG is siezing a historic opportunity to work with President Obama to win real change.

Safe And Affordable Prescription Drugs

Pharmaceutical companies make the medicines that enable us to live healthier, longer lives. But their business practices also drive up drug prices and increase the risk of harmful side effects, and their strong-armed lobbying has blocked needed reforms.

Overview

There's little that's more important than your health. But because health care is so important, it's also big business -- and there are two powerful industries in particular who protect their interests at consumers' expense.

Recent headlines in California highlight the fact that insurance companies routinely drop customers who get sick, and tell us that health insurance rate increases are far outpacing the rise of wages.

In a country with a world-renowned medical reputation, we expect drug companies to rigorously test and truthfully market their drugs, but history tells us that this is not always the case.

Without a doubt, the pharmaceutical and insurance industries play an important role in our health care system, but their business practices and lobbying too often prevent California from fulfilling basic expectations of health and safety. CALPIRG works to counter their influence and protect the health of Californians.

Too many Californians can't afford their prescriptions, and can't rely on their insurance coverage to be there for them when they get sick. CALPIRG works to lower costs, improve the quality of care, and fight back against industry lobbying muscle.