Sonoma County Physicians Run Ad Calling for Increased Reimbursements
More than half of Sonoma County's 600 doctors signed a petition "urging" the public to support increasing funding for the county's health care system, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports. The petition, which ran as a full-page ad in yesterday's Press-Democrat, calls on the federal government to increase Medicare reimbursements, the state to boost funding for Medi-Cal and businesses to contribute more for group health plan premiums. The ad proposes using the county's portion of cigarette tax revenue to fund insurance coverage for children and encourages uninsured families to enroll children in public health programs such as Healthy Families. Many of the proposed changes came from the county's health care providers and business leaders, who met in January to discuss the issues facing the health care system. The Press-Democrat reports that doctors and hospitals have "argued for several years" that physicians have been left with a "shrinking share of the health care dollar" because of "declining premiums" and increased technology and pharmaceutical costs. Mark Kostielney, director of Sonoma County's Department of Health Services, said, "It is fairly significant when you get this many physicians agreeing and wanting to reach out to the community so it understands their deep concern." The ad will run again Friday (Rose, Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, 3/13).
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