{"id":18059,"date":"2025-10-22T16:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T16:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/18059\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T16:46:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T16:46:13","slug":"californias-efforts-to-lower-insulin-costs-need-to-address-the-middlemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/18059\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s efforts to lower insulin costs need to address the middlemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oct. 22, 2025 8 AM PT <\/p>\n

To the editor: I applaud California\u2019s bold move to offer CalRx-branded insulin at lower prices (\u201cCheaper insulin will soon be available through California\u2019s state prescription program,\u201d<\/a> Oct. 16). But for this effort to succeed, the state must address the middlemen and supply-chain pressures that often erase patient savings.<\/p>\n

While pharmacies will buy a five-pack for $45 and sell at $55, pharmacy benefit managers can still impose hidden fees<\/a> or restrictive contracts that shift costs back to the patient or squeeze small pharmacies. Many independent pharmacies in California have already closed<\/a> after being reimbursed at less than cost, creating access deserts.<\/p>\n

To safeguard CalRx, the state should require transparency in benefit management practices and fair pharmacy reimbursement. Senate Bill 41<\/a> is a good start. California\u2019s insulin initiative is a great step forward, modeling an approach that may succeed nationwide if it protects both patients and pharmacies that serve them.<\/p>\n

Padmashree Muralidharan, San Diego<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oct. 22, 2025 8 AM PT To the editor: I applaud California\u2019s bold move to offer CalRx-branded insulin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15351,7,9,8,15354,2072,4416,15352,15348,63,15353,15349,15350,12649,15355,3287,225],"class_list":{"0":"post-18059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-benefit-management-practice","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-calrx-branded-insulin","13":"tag-editor","14":"tag-effort","15":"tag-fair-pharmacy-reimbursement","16":"tag-insulin-cost","17":"tag-los-angeles-times","18":"tag-many-independent-pharmacy","19":"tag-middleman","20":"tag-patient-saving","21":"tag-pharmacy","22":"tag-restrictive-contract","23":"tag-senate-bill","24":"tag-state"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}