California will become the largest single-purchaser for prescription drugs in U.S.

(Reuters) - Hours into his new job, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Monday that could dramatically reshape the way prescription drugs are paid for and acquired in the most populous U.S. state.

The order, along with another naming the state's first-ever surgeon general, marks a fast start for a governor who has vowed to combat inequity and position California as a counterweight to the conservative Trump administration in Washington.

In his executive order, Newsom directed state officials to set up what he said would ultimately be the nation's largest single-purchaser system for prescription drugs.

It directed California's massive Medicaid system to negotiate prescription drug prices for all of its 13 million recipients, changing their benefits from a managed-care or HMO approach to one that allows the state to handle all the purchases.

ALso from the link:

• Newsom will ask the legislature to allow all undocumented immigrant young adults under the age of 26 to participate in the state's Medicaid plan.

• A budget proposal to increase the federal subsidy for participation in Affordable Care Act policies to families of four making as much as $150,000

• Reinstate the mandate requiring people to purchase health care.

LINK: https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1P200D

The federal subsidy DOES need to be increased. And if there's a mandate then single-payer MUST be an option (or law of the land), otherwise it's a mandate that California guarantees health insurance industry profits. We can do better than that bullshit.