Rigo Manzo was presented with the “Christopher Pitkin Advocate of the Year Award”. Although this award has been on hiatus for a few years during COVID-19, historically this award has honored individuals for their outstanding work related to advocacy and the bleeding disorder community. Christopher Pitkin was a man with severe hemophilia who provided leadership as well as advocated for the health and safety of all persons with bleeding disorders and the continued support by the State of California for programs and initiatives to support treatment and care.
Rigo joined HCC first as a member of our Advocacy Committee and then in January 2022 as a member of our Board of Directors. He has been a committed volunteer, board member and advocate since he first volunteered, eager to both give of his time and talent and also to learn from the experience and opportunities provided. Rigo is also one of our Advocacy and Access Ambassadors, as well as a mentor in our Future Leaders program.
As a person living with a bleeding disorder, Rigo understands the value of community to find support overcoming challenges and as an agent of change when a community comes together to advocate for themselves and others. A true advocate, Rigo is committed to serving his community with excellence, and the Hemophilia Council of California was honored to present him with our “Christopher Pitkin Advocate of the Year Award”.
Trent Garrett (on behalf of Asm. Akilah Weber, M.D.) and Rigo Manzo, HCC Leg Day Awardees
Assemblymember Akilah Weber, M.D. is HCC’s Legislator of the Year
Assemblymember Akilah Weber, M.D. was honored at HCC’s recent Legislative Day on March 21 as ”Legislator of the Year”. Assemblymember Dr. Weber was the author of ACR 23, our annual resolution recognizing March as Bleeding Disorder Awareness Month in California. Assemblymember Dr. Weber’s support and efforts have helped bring awareness of, and engagement in, the inheritable bleeding disorders journey beyond our community to the general public.
Assemblymember Dr. Weber is also the author of AB 874. This bill will protect patient assistance to help pay for medications by banning the use of copay accumulator programs. The bill will require health insurance plans and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to apply any amount paid by the insured through copay assistance to the patient’s deductible or out-of-pocket maximum. AB 874 is a large part of the efforts to protect patient copay assistance in California, and the All Copays Count in CA Coalition is truly grateful for her authorship of the bill.
For all of these reasons, Assemblymember Akilah Weber, M.D. was honored as HCC’s Legislator of the Year at this year’s Legislative Day. The Assemblymember was unfortunately not able to join us in person to accept her award, so it was accepted on her behalf by her Legislative Aide Trent Garrett.
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