November 2005 saw the most expensive ballot initiative fight in American history when the pharmaceutical industry spent more than $78 million to defeat a California prescription drug discount measure proposed by public interest advocacy organizations. Undeterred, CALPIRG and other consumer groups returned to the legislature with a compromise measure that would create a prescription drug discount program for California’s low-income uninsured and allow the state to use its buying power to leverage discounts from pharmaceutical companies.
On Saturday, July 23rd, Governor Schwarzenegger’s administration announced that it would be willing to support an amended version of that proposal. CALPIRG and our coalition partners are pleased that the governor now agrees with us on the most important aspect of the program – enforceability. He had previously supported an entirely voluntary program.
Over the month of August, CALPIRG and coalition partners, including AARP California and Health Access California, will keep working with the administration and legislative leaders to make sure that we get a good, meaningful program to lower the cost of prescription drugs for uninsured Californians. Even with the governor’s proposed amendments, the pharmaceutical industry remains strongly opposed to the legislation and will continue working to stop it. If passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, the California plan could represent a national watershed for other states currently considering prescription drug discount programs.
Contact: Emily Clayton, CALPIRG Health Care Advocate, 415-622-0039 x302, eclayton@calpirg.org, www.calpirg.org.
