Health care coverage: portable HEPA purifiers.

With Assembly Member Caloza guiding the measure and joined by Principal Coauthor Assembly Member Rivas and Senator Cervantes, the proposal places a targeted health coverage obligation on large-group plans and policies to cover one portable HEPA purifier for pregnant enrollees or those diagnosed with asthma or COPD when they reside in or are displaced from a wildfire-emergency area, prescribed by a health care provider. The requirement applies to plans and policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, and would not extend to Medicare supplement policies or Medi-Cal managed care contracts.

A portable HEPA purifier is defined as a device that uses a mechanical filter capable of removing at least 99 percent of airborne particles that are 10 microns in size. The purifier must be provided at a cost not to exceed $500, adjusted for inflation, with the inflation adjustment triggered only if no qualifying purifier meeting the requirements can be obtained for $500 or less. Enrollees or insureds would be entitled to the benefit for declarations made on or after January 1, 2025, and plans or insurers must notify affected individuals within implementation or within 30 days of a wildfire emergency declaration. The measure also covers specific public employee and teacher retirement system arrangements while clarifying that the provision does not apply to Medicare supplement policies or Medi-Cal managed care contracts.

Enforcement and oversight are structured around criminal accountability for willful violations by a health care service plan, creating a state-mandated-local program dynamic. Guidance from the Department of Managed Health Care and the California Department of Insurance may be issued until the emergency ends, with guidance not subject to the Administrative Procedure Act. The act preserves existing emergency authorities for the Governor and the Emergency Services Act, and defines “local or state emergency” through established government code provisions. Fiscal considerations note a lack of required local reimbursement, and the bill’s immediate effect as an urgency statute is paired with a 2026 substantive coverage trigger, alongside a potential retroactive entitlement tied to wildfire declarations issued after 2025.