Hospitals And Unions In Bay Area Square Off On Ballot Measure To Cap Health Costs
The ballot questions in Livermore and Palo Alto would force every hospital and health care provider in those two cities to charge patients no more than 15 percent above the industry-established cost of provided medical services.
The Mercury News:
Bay Area Hospitals, Union Spending Millions On Local Patient-Cost Measures
In a high-stakes election campaign with statewide implications, a health care union is spending millions to sway voters in two Bay Area cities to cap how much hospitals can charge patients. The hospitals, led by Stanford Health Care, are fighting back with their own millions to deliver the message that the union is more interested in signing up new members than containing patient costs. (Ruggiero, 11/1)
And a Nevada jury decision may impact some mental health patients bused to California —
Sacramento Bee:
“Greyhound Therapy” Patients Win Lawsuit Against NV Hospital
A Las Vegas jury on Thursday unanimously decided in favor of mentally ill people who were cast out of a Nevada psychiatric hospital and bused across the country without proper care or planning. The Clark County jury decided that each participant in the class-action lawsuit is entitled to $250,000, said Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of patients. ... Merin filed the lawsuits on behalf of James Flavy Coy Brown, whose bus trip took him to Sacramento, and potentially hundreds of others who had similar experiences. (Hubert, 11/1)