The driver of the cost of insurance is the cost of care, and I haven't seen much, even in the form of rhetoric, paid this way.

So, can they really? Part of the reason places like Canada and the UK can do this is they can threaten to run around the industry when they try to fleece their citizens. Ultimately CA may be unable to do anything to combat the costs of medical care because the laws that give pharmacies and the AMA their monopoly in the field are enacted at the federal level.