Blog Viewer

CSDA Officially Opposes Costly MICRA Initiative

By Vanessa Gonzales posted 03-31-2020 12:22 PM

  

Court_Room.jpgLast week, CSDA’s Board of Directors officially adopted an oppose position on initiative #19-0018A1, which would amend the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) and increase litigation costs associated with medical malpractice lawsuits. The initiative increases the current cap on pain and suffering damages in cases involving death or permanent injury and would allow for the awarding of attorney’s fees. Additionally, this initiative extends the statute of limitations for filing medical negligence lawsuits.

 

This new initiative may sound familiar to many employers and local leaders because it is very similar to Proposition 46 which was defeated in 2014 with 66.76% of voters voting “no.” Just like in 2014, this initiative is being pushed by consumer attorneys.

 

Without question, if passed, this initiative would increase litigation, result in increased healthcare costs. As a consequence, the initiative would reduce the number of medical providers available, and therefore reduce access to care. The analysis by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office and California’s Director of Finance of fiscal impacts on state and local governments stated the initiative would result in “[i]ncreased state and local government health care costs predominantly from raising or removing the cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, likely ranging from the low tens of millions of dollars to the high hundreds of millions of dollars annually.”

 

It is important to note that existing law provides no cap for economic damages, such as compensation for medical bills or lost wages. Initiative #19-0018A1 would offer legal awards above and beyond these existing economic damages.

 

By adopting an oppose position on the initiative, CSDA has joined a growing coalition committed to protecting access to health care through MICRA. The coalition includes health care professionals and organizations representing community clinics, public safety organizations, physicians, nurses, dentists, hospitals, health facilities, women’s health advocates, emergency providers, other local government agencies, labor unions, and other health care professionals.

 

This initiative is still in the signature gathering phase but reached the threshold of 25 percent of the needed signature in late December. For questions about the initiative or CSDA’s position, please contact CSDA’s Senior Legislative Representative, Dillon Gibbons, at dillong@csda.net.

 


#AdvocacyNews
#FeatureNews
0 comments
3815 views

Permalink