Dialysis Clinics Fight California Ballot Measure to Cap Revenue
- DaVita, Fresenius lead $94 million effort to defeat initiative
- Union backing ballot measure says it will improve patient care
Voters cast ballots at a polling station.
Photographer: Scott McIntyre/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Dialysis companies have poured $94 million into a campaign to defeat a California ballot initiative that would cap profit margins at their outpatient clinics, the most spending since pharmaceutical companies helped defeat a drug-price referendum two years ago.
Proposition 8 would require the state’s 555 kidney dialysis clinics to give insurance companies back any money they make when revenue exceeds 115 percent of the cost of direct patient care and improvements such as staff training. It will be on the Nov. 6 ballot along with 10 other California initiatives on topics ranging from daylight savings time to the size of cages for farm animals.