We are pleased to share an important advocacy win that will directly benefit people living with ALS and We are pleased to share an important advocacy win that will directly benefit people living with ALS and their families across Los Angeles County.
In early November, the ALS Network learned that L.A. Care Health Plan was planning to eliminate three critical CalAIM Community Supports beginning in January 2026:
- Respite Services
- Environmental Accessibility Adaptations (home modifications)
- Community Transition Community Supports
These services play a vital role in helping people with ALS remain safely at home—especially during hospital discharges, while awaiting IHSS approval, or when families face abrupt changes in care needs.
As soon as we learned of this proposed change, the ALS Network took immediate action. Our Advocacy and Care Services teams worked closely with Alzheimer’s Los Angeles, local community partners, and L.A. Care leadership to ensure that the voices of individuals with complex medical needs were heard. Together, we provided testimony, shared lived-experience stories, and communicated the risks that eliminating these supports would pose.
Thanks to this collective advocacy, L.A. Care has now reversed its decision and will keep all three Community Supports in place for 2026.
This outcome is a powerful example of what can be achieved when community organizations work together to protect essential services for vulnerable populations. We are grateful to our partners across Los Angeles and to L.A. Care leadership for engaging in thoughtful conversation and reconsidering the proposed changes.
Our next steps are to continue collaborating with L.A. Care to:
- Strengthen utilization of these supports for people living with ALS,
- Improve identification and referral processes
- Monitor potential changes to other Community Supports across the state.
We will keep our community updated as these conversations progress.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this advocacy win possible. Together, we continue to protect and expand the supports that help people with ALS live safely, independently, and with dignity.