April 24, 2025

An Update on the Future of ITUP 

After three transformative decades of championing expanded healthcare coverage and access for all Californians, Insure the Uninsured Project (ITUP) will conclude its pioneering work in July 2025. Founded in 1996, ITUP has stood as a beacon of hope and progress in California’s health care landscape. From our inception, we have championed the noble cause of expanding and accessing culturally concordant, quality health care for all Californians, particularly those in underserved communities.   

Under the direction of four visionary Executive Directors, dozens of dedicated Board members, and with the outstanding efforts of many dozens of talented staff, ITUP has been extraordinarily productive. Our enduring legacy includes convening stakeholders across multiple perspectives, centering the needs of Californians whose health care needs were underserved, translating policy proposals for diverse audiences, and accelerating the development and effective implementation of policy solutions that would result in equitable access to health care for all Californians. Our 29 annual meetings crossed siloes to encourage the development and implementation of effective policy. ITUP’s reach was amplified through 11 annual regional workshops to uncover the community needs and innovations across our geographically diverse state and through the hundreds of policy publications providing high-quality synthesis and insights to help shape policy making and illuminate priorities for a more just and accessible healthcare system. 

Our legacy of innovation, policy leadership, and collaborative problem-solving contributed to advancing coverage and access in California, ranging from an effort to insure all children to expanding access through Medi-Cal waivers and coverage programs to California’s successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ITUP’s work has informed California’s post-ACA successes that today include the state’s dramatic increase in the number of insured residents, innovations in Medi-Cal, and improved broadband access to health care. We helped build an infrastructure for continued health reform in California that will be robust and resilient even in challenging times. As our goal of “insuring the uninsured” came within reach, ITUP’s role as a convener and translator of policy proposals became less salient to funders than it had once been.  

In today’s national political climate, where coverage and the gains from the ACA and progress toward equitable access are under threat, ITUP could have continued to play a role with the proper resources. We were, ultimately, unable to rally the resources needed to sustain our organization’s work.  

We will navigate the upcoming transition with care and identify ways to archive and staff ITUP’s legacy. In the near term, you can anticipate the following actions: 

• Join us and Cal-IHEA for our Virtual Program, Retaining Immigrant Health Coverage in California, set for tomorrow, April 24, 2025, at 12 p.m. You can register here.
• Harness our communication platforms to connect our stakeholders with other health coverage and access partner organizations .
• Develop a digital archive of our publications and work  

Please keep an eye out for other programs that will highlight important work about justice-involved populations and access to doula services.  

We celebrate the countless funders, partners, advisors, and communities who have walked alongside ITUP throughout our journey toward a vision of access and equitable health care for all. 

 

Sincerely, 

Crispin Delgado, MPP, Executive Director

Dr. Sunita Mutha, Chair, Board of Directors