Gavin Newsom is taking aim at the three greedy insulin drugmakers who have made billions in profits at the expense of Californians with Type 1 diabetes who must take the medication every day to survive.
Newsom believes the state can help patients who now pay out of pocket thousands of dollars a year. While it won’t be easy, he deserves credit for trying to break the oligopoly that’s making basic prescription drugs unaffordable. In January, the 4 million American seniors on Medicare with Type 1 diabetes saw their insulin costs capped at $35 per month, thanks to government subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act. In February, in his State of the Union address, President Biden called on Congress to extend that benefit to all Americans.