Press Release

August 4, 2022

In Case You Missed It: San Jose Mercury News & East Bay Times Say Prop 29 “would make it harder for patients to receive critical care.”

For immediate release: August 4, 2022

Contact: Kathy Fairbanks (916) 813-1010

Call Prop 29: “A blatant abuse of California’s election system”

Sacramento – Two Bay Area News Group outlets, the San Jose Mercury News and East Bay Times, urged voters to reject Prop 29 in a recent editorial. Noting that dialysis treatment is a matter of life and death, they said Prop 29 “would make it harder for patients to receive critical care.”

Recalling the previous two failed dialysis measures in 2018 and 2020, which were both voted down by 20 points, “The third time is not the charm for SEIU’s blatant abuse of California’s election system.”

Prop 29 on the November 2022 California ballot will jeopardize access to care, worsen our health care provider shortage and increase health care costs for all Californians. It is opposed by a broad coalition of patients, doctors, nurses, veterans, seniors, community groups, and business and taxpayer groups.

Excerpts from the editorial:

• “Proposition 29 is the worst kind of abuse of California’s election system.”
• “would make it harder for patients to receive critical care.”
• “using the initiative system as a form of political blackmail”
• “Dialysis treatment is a matter of life and death for the 80,000 Californians who receive treatment three times a week at about 650 licensed chronic dialysis clinics. Physicians warn that patients missing even one treatment increase their risk of death by 30%.”
• “the Legislative Analyst’s Office warns that the requirement would increase a clinic’s costs by several hundred thousand dollars annually on average, potentially forcing some clinics to close or operate at a loss.”
• “That could be devastating to patients, who could be forced to travel longer distances to receive treatments.”
• “Voters have rejected the two previous kidney dialysis ballot measures with good reason. They should do so again by voting no on Prop. 29.”

Background:

Prop 29 is opposed by the California Medical Association, American Nurses Association\California, patients, and many others because it would jeopardize the lives of dialysis patients by forcing hundreds of dialysis clinics to cut back services or shut down – making it more difficult for dialysis patients to access their life-saving treatments. 

Prop 29 would make the state’s current health care provider shortage and emergency room overcrowding even worse, while unnecessarily increasing health care costs for taxpayers and consumers by hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

There are approximately 80,000 dialysis patients in California with failed kidneys who need dialysis machines to clean their blood and remove toxins from their bodies. Patients must receive dialysis treatment three times a week for four hours at a time to stay alive. Access to consistent dialysis treatments is so important that just one missed treatment increases patients’ risk of death by 30%. 

Prop 29 is sponsored by the United Healthcare Workers West (UHW) union – the same organization that abused California’s initiative process in 2018 with Proposition 8 and in 2020 with Prop. Now, this special interest is at it again with Prop 29.