Prolific legislator Sen. Scott Wiener looks to fulfill a promise he made to Chinatown constituents and voters.
Sen. Scott Wiener talks with acupuncture advocates in Sacramento after a hearing for SB 944 on March 25, 2026. Photo by Yujie Zhou.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, former president of the California Acupuncture Coalition., 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.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 ChinatownSen. 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.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, more than 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. Join the 3,300 readers who keep Mission Local free for all!All we can say is thank you. Thank you for choosing to invest in a local newsroom rooted in San Francisco’s communities — one that listens first and reports deeply. Your contribution today helps sustain the reporting our city relies on all year long.Yujie is a staff reporter covering city hall with a focus on the Asian community. She came on as an intern after graduating from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and became a full-time staff reporter as a Report for America corps member and has stayed on. Before falling in love with San Francisco, Yujie covered New York City, studied politics through the “street clashes” in Hong Kong, and earned a wine-tasting certificate in two days. She's proud to be a bilingual journalist. Find her on Signal @Yujie_ZZ.01 Please keep your comments short and civil. Do not leave multiple comments under multiple names on one article. We will zap comments that fail to adhere to these short and easy-to-follow rules.Sign up for Mission Local's daily newsletter: The latest San Francisco news in your inbox, no more than once a day, for free.
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