For anyone curious why one of the most progressive governors would do this…
It was a $35 cap on copays, not on the drug itself. Does not help the uninsured and the insured would just have higher rates instead.
CA is literally going to produce their own insulin, $30. No insurance, no bullshit.
This wouldn’t have prevented CA from moving forward with their insulin, and would have helped diabetics in the meantime (or in case that plan falls through in the end).
He’s been vetoing anything remotely controversial, mostly on the progressive side as he tries to push more centrist for a presidential run, and it sucks.
$30 is still incredibly expensive for something that some people need just to survive.
A good step forward, but not a big one.
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The bill would have banned health plans and disability insurance policies from imposing any out-of-pocket expenses on insulin prescription drugs above $35 for a 30-day supply.
California has a $50m contract with the non-profit pharmaceutical company Civica Rx to manufacture the insulin under the brand CalRx.
“With CalRx, we are getting at the underlying cost, which is the true sustainable solution to high-cost pharmaceuticals,” Newsom wrote in a message explaining why he vetoed the bill on Saturday.
State senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco who crafted the bill, called Newsom’s veto “a major setback that will keep tens of thousands of diabetic Californians trapped in the terrible choice between buying insulin and buying food”.
“This is a missed opportunity that will force them to wait months or years for relief from the skyrocketing costs of medical care when they could have had it immediately,” Wiener said in a news release.
In January, California attorney general Rob Bonta sued the companies that make and promote most of the nation’s insulin, accusing them of colluding to illegally increase the price.
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Another own-goal by Newsom, as he prepares for a presidential run in '28. First vetoing the anti-casteism bill, affordable housing bill, and now this, using weak justifications so as not to rock the boat.
This bill passing would not have prevented CA from making our own insulin, but it would have stopped companies from charging higher copays, and saved a lot of people a decent chunk of money each year until the CA insulin supply actually happens.