Protect Patients Now, which is sponsored by the California Apartment Association, submitted over 860,000 raw signatures for verification on April 10, according to the secretary of state. The campaign needs 546,651 signatures to be valid to qualify the initiated state statute for the November ballot in California.
The initiative would establish a new category of entities called prescription drug price manipulators that meet all of the following criteria:
- participates in the federal 340B drug price discount program;
- owns or has owned at least one license to operate as a health insurance plan, pharmacy, or clinic in the state or contracts with Med-Cal as a primary care case management organization or with Medicare as a special needs plan;
- has spent more than $100 million on purposes not related to direct patient care in a 10-year period of its existence; and
- owns, operates, or previously owned and operated one or more multifamily dwellings that have received a combined total of at least 500 state or local high violations.
