I'm not familiar with California's government, but I'm assuming there's a mechanism to overturn a veto. Hopefully, they have the votes and can do what their constituents elected them to do.
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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