[Nov. 27, 2017] LOS ANGELES – The campaign to limit California dialysis corporations from overcharging is proving so popular that organizers behind a statewide 2018 ballot initiative announced today they collected more than 25 percent of the required signatures after just four weeks of talking with voters.

“We’re hearing from so many voters that they know someone on dialysis and that their family and friends aren’t getting the quality care they deserve,” said Tangi Foster, a dialysis patient from Los Angeles. “Then they hear how much the dialysis companies are overcharging and that’s what motivates them to sign the petition. They want to hold these corporations accountable.”

The Fair Pricing for Dialysis Act would require dialysis corporations to refund any revenue that is more than 15 percent above the cost of care.

The two largest dialysis corporations – DaVita and Fresenius – made a combined $3.9 billion in profits from their dialysis operations in the United States in 2016. Private insurance paid dialysis companies an average of 345 percent above the actual cost of treatment last year.

Signature collection for the initiative began Oct. 30, 2017. SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, which is sponsoring the measure, plans to submit considerably more than the 365,880 signatures needed to qualify for the Nov. 6, 2018 ballot.

Dialysis is a life-saving procedure that removes a patient’s blood, cleans it, and then puts it back in his or her body. Patients must go to a clinic three days a week, for three to four hours each time. More than 66,000 Californians rely on dialysis.