By Samantha Young and Angela Hart, Kaiser Health News, October 1, 2020
Though COVID-19 forced California leaders to scale back their ambitious health care agenda, they still managed to enact significant new laws intended to lower consumer health care spending and expand access to health coverage.
When Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom concluded the chaotic legislative year Wednesday — his deadline to sign or veto bills — what emerged wasn’t the sweeping platform he and state lawmakers had outlined at the beginning of the year. But the dozens of health care measures they approved included first-in-the-nation policies to require more comprehensive coverage of mental health and addiction, and thrusting the state into the generic drug-making business.
“We had less time, less money and less focus, but COVID makes the causes of expanding coverage and trying to control health care costs that much more important,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a Sacramento-based consumer advocacy group.
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