Whether healthcare reforms meet with support or opposition, all represent an effort to control the direction of the delivery system.
Attempts to alter healthcare's value chain are marked by money and power. Whether reforms meet with support or opposition, all represent an effort to control the direction of the delivery system—whether at the national level, local, or both.
This is particularly true in California, which is the birthplace of not only U.S. managed care and venture capital but some of the most robust, state-based attempts to establish universal coverage. In addition to new legislation that proposes the latter, the November 2022 ballot could feature multiple, additional, healthcare-focused measures.
Five proposals
Kaiser Health News recently reported on the following California ballot proposals:
- Banning flavored tobaccos
- Increasing medical malpractice award limits
- Regulating dialysis clinics
- Legalizing psychedelic mushrooms
- Advancing public health emergency (PHE) response
As Kaiser adds: "Although the election is about 10 months away, money is already pouring in from deep-pocketed interests eager to defeat measures that would eat into their profits."
Opposition to tobacco and malpractice measures
Only the tobacco ban has officially qualified for the November ballot. Big Tobacco has raised $21 million and is sure to invest more to block any bans of its products. State filings indicate the malpractice measure has the required signatures—as well as $43 million in funding raised to oppose it, primarily from the California Medical and Hospital Associations. If passed, malpractice award limits would increase from $250,000 to $1.2 million and give judges and juries the authority to grant larger settlements.
Greater dialysis clinic and PHE oversight
Like the malpractice proposal, attempts to regulate dialysis clinics have been defeated in the past, in part due to more than $200 million in opposition funding. The current measure, if it makes the ballot, calls for more scrutiny of clinic ownership and staffing qualifications.
The state, which has implemented some of the nation's most rigorous lockdown measures, does not want to miss the opportunity to define ongoing response, to the current pandemic or any future ones. If approved, the PHE-related measures would increase personal income taxes for the wealthy to raise $15 billion over 10 years to track and combat disease outbreaks and support safety, infrastructure, and workforce needs in schools and public health entities. Schools and local businesses are the focus of another PHE measure, specifically efforts to limit closures.
Timelines for collecting sufficient signatures for ballot inclusion range from March to May.
Laura Beerman is a contributing writer for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Whether reforms meet with support or opposition, all represent an effort to control the direction of the delivery system—whether at the national level, local, or both.
This is particularly true in California, which is the birthplace of not only U.S. managed care and venture capital but some of the most robust, state-based attempts to establish universal coverage.
In addition to new legislation that proposes the latter, the November 2022 ballot could feature multiple, additional, healthcare-focused measures.