Long COVID patients in California are waiting up to six months to see a specialist, if they can find one still accepting new patients. Clinics across the state are full. This is despite a 2024 state law.

In September 2024, Bill AB 3119 cleared both chambers of the California Legislature without a single dissenting vote and was signed into law.

This law requires the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, the Board of Registered Nursing, and the Physician Assistant Board to consider including, in their continuing education requirements for the licensees specified above, a course on infection-associated chronic conditions, including, but not limited to, long COVID.

The California Medical Board has not publicly discussed the issue since the bill was enacted into law.

Its position: Each physician should choose the continuing education appropriate to their patients. For patients who cannot work, cannot sleep, and cannot find a trained provider, that position has a cost.

In this episode, we sit down with Susanna Zaraysky, the California resident who pushed AB 3119 through the Legislature after spending months unable to find a doctor trained to treat her. We also discuss with Dr. Monica Gandhi, professor of Medicine at UCSF, what it would take to close the treatment gap.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.