A message from our President > Raghunath Reddy, MD
Protecting Access to Quality Care As a physician, my primary goal is to protect my patients and provide quality medical care to those who need it most. Unfortunately, a measure heading to California’s November 2022 ballot could put patient access to care at risk and make it even more burdensome for physicians like you and I to treat and care for the patients we aim to serve. The California Medical Association (CMA) has joined with a broad coalition of community clinics, hospitals, nurses, public safety, business, and labor groups to oppose a dangerous measure that will appear on the ballot this fall. This costly ballot measure, bankrolled and written by an out-of-state trial lawyer, is an effort to eliminate the cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases and erase the current cap on fees lawyers can take in victim damage award cases. This dangerous proposal would pave the way for new rounds of frivolous lawsuits and send the price of health care soaring by hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. These costs would be born directly by patients and taxpayers and have a devastating effect on access to care for patients everywhere. It would hit particularly hard for patients in rural and other medically underserved communities. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Raghunath Reddy, MD is the current president of the San Joaquin Medical Society and practices family medicine at Stockton Primary Care Medical Center
SPRING 2022
At a time when our state is in the midst of an affordability crisis, now is the worst possible time to drive up health care costs and reduce access to care for those who need it most. That’s why I am asking you to join me and CMA in the campaign to defeat this measure in November.
SAN JOAQUIN PHYSICIAN
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