July 2023
Starting in 2024, MediCal provider rates will increase to at least 87.5% of Medicare for primary care, maternity care, and non-specialty mental health services, with further increases in 2025.
The FDA reports 136 drugs currently in supply shortage, with 15 of them for oncology medications widely used for common cancers. (Are these drugs not profitable enough for drug companies to make enough, or do shortages raise the price to improve profitability?) Other countries participate in the international pharmaceutical drug-supply market (produced by industrialized countries with high standards), and they have lower average drug prices than in the US. However, buying drugs from a foreign source is illegal in the US even if made by a US manufacturer, although a large proportion of raw materials for US drug manufacturing are imported.
The Fentanyl crisis continues to worsen, averaging 18 deaths daily in California. Fentanyl contamination has also been found in many drugs bought by tourists in Mexico, with some deaths there. Fentanyl is potent and cheap, and many street drugs are spiked with it. There is disagreement on whether a more punitive or educational approach should be tried. CAFP has taken positions on Fentanyl bills introduced this year, for public schools maintaining emergency supplies of naloxone, for college campuses maintaining fentanyl test strips, and for establishing a task force on Fentanyl Addiction and Overdose Prevention.
California is developing a more affordable and accessible supply of Naloxone nasal products for opioid overdose, through the CalRx Initiative.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has warned tobacco companies about violating California’s flavored tobacco ban, approved by voters last year and in effect since December 2022. Products like “Kool Non-Menthol,” “Camel Crisp” and “Newport Non-Menthol” have been determined to be in violation of the ban. (Public health concerns for minors and addiction may be interfering with profitability.)
The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) had its annual “check-write” delay during the last 2 weeks of June, in order to pay those claims out of the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget. (Balanced-budgeting magic!)
The legislature is on summer recess until August 14.
