By The End Of The Tenure, Low Prescription Drug Prices Seem To Be Lost

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : March 8, 2022

This is an old legacy of politicians. Before the election, they promised to bring several changes, but when the right time came, nothing happened. On the inauguration day of Gavin Newsom, governor of California in 2019, he promised his subjects to reduce the cost of drugs for all Californians. 

He made many promises like California would make its own insulin, and they would manufacture drugs in partnership with other states. He failed to fulfill all of his promises.

By The End Of The Tenure, Low Prescription Drug Prices Seem To Be Lost

On inauguration day, he said that, apart from politicians in Washington, there are many other powerful forces that are against them, and here in California they will have the power to stand against them, and they will surely do that. 

He said that they would be able to save hundreds of billions by reducing the cost of drugs. The first thing he planned to do during his tenure was to use the state’s massive purchasing power to negotiate the prices for Californians. But till now, only a few states have come forward to participate. 

The second thing he announced was that he would make drugs available at low cost to all Californians who were enrolled in Medicaid health care. The third thing he intended to do was to manufacture generic drugs in the state. But these plans seem to have fallen down. 

By The End Of The Tenure, Low Prescription Drug Prices Seem To Be Lost

According to new data, instead of reducing the drug price, the cost is likely to rise during the tenure of Newsome. The prices for both pharmaceutical and prescription drugs have increased across the country. 

Gavin Newsom has almost failed to fulfill his promises, yet he is running for re-election in November. He argues that it’ll take many years to bring any change. Reducing prices may take many years. 

Newsom’s officers denied answering any questions about cost savings, but they did provide a written report to KHN queries. 

 According to his project, they could be able to save $414 million in the budget year 2022–23. Ohio will be using a single health care contractor for its Medicaid program, which will approximately save $186 million in the budget year 2022–23. 

Similarly, New York is planning to update their plan in April 2023. Newsome has made deals with the manufacturers of drugs to get some discounts for the state, jails, and other groups that buy and dispense drugs. Newsome initially stated that two states were interested in joining his program. 

So far, three states, namely, Los Angeles, Orange, and Sacramento, have come forward to join his program. In their official statement, they only said that they had saved a considerable sum of money, but they did not make any official statement about the exact amount of money. 

Newsome proposed a new plan to create a generic drug band named CalRx in 2020. This proposal became law. At the first hearing, Vishaal Pegany told the lawmakers that the state authorities are focusing on producing insulin and other generic drugs. In addition to serving the huge population of California, prices for drugs will be reduced.

The state is not making any official statement about how long the production of CalRx might take. They have not even announced their partners in drug production. They have not told the public about the other drugs they are producing. 

According to State Sen, Richard Pan said that soon California will start its own manufacturing company for generic drugs. They cannot build a factory overnight, but for the time being, they need manufacturers for the production of generic drugs. In the future, California will set up its own company. 


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

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