Proposition 35
CPEHN and a coalition of equity advocates announced our opposition to Proposition 35 on Thursday, September 5. Proposition 35 risks billions in budget cuts to Medi-Cal and other vital services for struggling Californians. It threatens to do more harm than good for children, families, and seniors who rely on Medi-Cal. If you would like to join our coalition or express your own concerns, please sign up here.
Prop. 35 threatens to do more harm than good for children, families, seniors who rely on Medi-Cal.
Measure risks billions in budget cuts to Medi-Cal, other vital services for struggling Californians.
Advocates for health care, democracy, communities of color, children and seniors today announced unified opposition to Proposition 35 on the November ballot. The California Pan Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN), The Children’s Partnership, the California Alliance of Retired Americans (CARA), Courage California, and the League of Women Voters of California emphasized the need to strengthen and invest in California’s Medi-Cal program while expressing strong opposition to the way Prop. 35 is written, which advocates say threatens to do more harm than good for communities who count on Medi-Cal.
“As advocates for communities of color who are disproportionately harmed by health inequities, CPEHN must warn voters against Prop. 35. While we strongly support boosting access to health care providers serving our communities, Prop. 35 throws away the hard work communities have done to make health care more equitable,” said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, Executive Director of CPEHN. “Care for people served by Medi-Cal now could be cut by billions of dollars, and California’s progress in expanding health care to all would be stalled or reversed. We say vote NO.”
Read the full press release here.
Partners
Contact
Kiran Savage-Sangwan
Executive Director
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN)
ksavage@cpehn.org
AB 3161 (Bonta): The Equity in Heath Care Act
Background
Racial discrimination and implicit bias continue to plague the health care industry. Communities of color and other marginalized Californians are more likely to experience patient safety events when compared to white patients. A patient safety event is a preventable incident that causes harm or injury to a patient when they receive health care, such as a medication error, surgical equipment left inside an individual or inadequate or negligent care that leads to adverse maternal health outcomes. A recent report found that patients who feel empowered by the health care system may be more likely to point out an error in their health care versus someone who was previously marginalized. Patients noted their priority is getting treatment when sick, not speaking up about discrimination and bias, yet the burden to report these cases falls on the individual – not the facility where they are seeking treatment. These cases often result in a patient enduring trauma and losing trust in the health care system as a whole.
Currently, general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, and special hospitals are required to report cases of patient safety events to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). However, there is no requirement to include demographic information when the reporting takes place. Lack of demographic data means we are unable to identify problematic trends of racial bias and discrimination in health care facilities. Further, community members are unaware of the pathways to seek justice when these cases occur, and the burden often falls on individuals and their family members to decide if they want to allocate resources to rectify their outcome.
Problem
Researchers have found that nearly 1 in 4 hospital patients in intensive care experienced some sort of inaccurate diagnosis or medical error. While CDPH does track reported patient safety events, there are no requirements to report the race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, or disability status of the patient, and CDPH does not investigate claims on the basis of racism or discrimination. Vulnerable communities are at a higher risk of falling victim to medical bias, especially when recent trends demonstrate women and minorities are more likely to experience medical misdiagnoses.
Additionally, while hospitals are currently required to produce patient safety plans and undergo culture of safety assessments every two years, there is no mandate to include protocols or procedures to address cases of racism, racial bias, or discrimination when a patient safety event occurs. Demographic data collection, comprehensive patient safety plans, and targeted information about patients’ civil rights options are needed to drastically curb the impacts of racial bias and discrimination in health care.
Sponsors
Contact
Ronald Coleman Baeza
Managing Policy Director
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN)
rcoleman@cpehn.org
Onyemma Obiekea
Policy Director
Black Women for Wellness Action Project (BWWAP)
onyenma@bwwla.com
Resources
AB 3161 (Bonta) Fact Sheet
AB 3161 (Bonta) FAQs
AB 3161 (Bonta) Personal Impact Stories