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Union Proposes Ballot Measure to Restrict Health Clinic Spending
Confirmed
In Short: SEIU-UHW, a union representing healthcare workers, has proposed Proposition 44, a ballot measure aimed at regulating how community health clinics spend their revenue.
SEIU-UHW, a union representing healthcare workers, has proposed Proposition 44, a ballot measure aimed at regulating how community health clinics spend their revenue.
The initiative would require clinics to spend at least 90% of their revenue on patient care, with penalties for non-compliance.
According to the union, many clinics currently spend a significant portion of their revenue on administrative expenses and executive salaries, rather than on patient care.
Union spokesperson Renee Saldana said, “We’re seeing clinics that have extravagant fundraisers or art collections or CEOs that are paid in the millions while their patients are struggling to get appointments, while the workers are dealing with broken equipment.”
However, the California Primary Care Association, which represents clinics, argues that the initiative is an “existential threat” that could force clinics to cut services, staff, or even close.
Francisco Silva, chief executive of the association, said, “In many communities, the community health center is the only source of care.”
A study commissioned by the primary care association found that most clinics would pay a collective $1.7 billion in penalties in the first year, and nearly half of all clinics in the state could close.
Silva added that the initiative would prevent clinics from spending on essential services like patient navigators, translators, and food pantries.
The union claims that clinics already prioritize patients, but the association contends that the initiative could bankrupt many facilities.
While public interest in the billionaire tax fight overshadows other ballot measures, Prop. 44 aims to address perceived mismanagement of funds in community health clinics.
The initiative would prohibit clinics from spending more than 10% of revenue on administrative expenses and other non-patient care activities.
Silva warned, “You’re going to be losing the basic safety net if you lose half of the community health centers.”
What this adds
The initiative's impact on community health clinics and patient care remains a subject of debate.
The union's proposal contrasts with the experiences of healthcare workers in the UK, who find decompression through creative activities like painting.
What's confirmed
- SEIU-UHW, a union representing healthcare workers, has proposed Proposition 44, a ballot measure aimed at regulating how community health clinics spend their revenue.
- The initiative would require clinics to spend at least 90% of their revenue on patient care, with penalties for non-compliance.
- According to the union, many clinics currently spend a significant portion of their revenue on administrative expenses and executive salaries, rather than on patient care.
- However, the California Primary Care Association, which represents clinics, argues that the initiative is an “existential threat” that could force clinics to cut services, staff, or even close.
- A study commissioned by the primary care association found that most clinics would pay a collective $1.7 billion in penalties in the first year, and nearly half of all clinics in the state could close.
- Silva added that the initiative would prevent clinics from spending on essential services like patient navigators, translators, and food pantries.
- The union claims that clinics already prioritize patients, but the association contends that the initiative could bankrupt many facilities.
- While public interest in the billionaire tax fight overshadows other ballot measures, Prop. 44 aims to address perceived mismanagement of funds in community health clinics.
- The initiative would prohibit clinics from spending more than 10% of revenue on administrative expenses and other non-patient care activities.
What's still developing
- Community health clinics are nonprofits that are required by law to reinvest 100% of revenue back into the organization regardless of how voters decide on Prop. 44.
- It would also prevent clinics, he said, from investing in capital improvements like renovations and new buildings.
- “Dave Regan and SEIU-UHW are extorting health centers by using the ballot measure process as as a way to get (the association) and health centers to agree to their demands that are entirely unrelated to Prop. 44,” said Joey Cachuela, general counsel for the primary care association, referencing the union’s president.
- “This is the second time the (the association) has attempted to use legal filings to bully the healthcare workers of SEIU-UHW into backing down from holding clinics and CEOs accountable to patients,” she said.
- The same union that put forward the billionaire wealth tax has another, lesser-known proposal on the ballot: Proposition 44.
- Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West wants voters to change how community health clinics spend money and penalize those that violate the ballot initiative’s provisions.
- It would also penalize clinics that don’t meet the new 90% spending threshold.
- The attorney general could fine clinics that don’t comply, and the money would go into a special fund reserved for health workforce spending.
- Dr Amanda Doyle of NHS England said people can get treatment “quickly and conveniently on local high streets”.
- Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at ECMWF, said the latest temperature data shows how “climate change is driving extremes across both the atmosphere and the oceans”.
- Gareth Redmond-King, of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said a “warning siren” was sounding two months before the COP 31 summit.
- We asked those in high-pressure roles, in which often it really is a matter of life and death, how they meaningfully decompress after a busy day in the clinic.