Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti plans to announce his support Tuesday for Proposition 4, the Children's Hospital Bond measure on the November ballot, which would authorize a $1.5 billion bond to expand and upgrade California's 13 children's hospitals.
Garcetti plans to make the announcement at a news conference with CHLA President & CEO Paul Viviano at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, where he will also visit a patient.
Proposition 4 is supported by Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Sheila Kuehl, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Los Angeles Times has also recommended a yes vote on the measure.
"The eight children's hospitals that would be the main beneficiaries of this bond issue are being squeezed financially by the state in two ways. A growing percentage of their patients -- 63 percent -- is on Medi-Cal, and the state reimburses hospitals for those treatments at one of the lowest rates in the country," The Times Editorial Board wrote. "At the same time, the state has imposed more stringent seismic retrofitting standards that the hospitals must meet by 2030, and to do that, almost 30 percent of their inpatient capacity needs to be upgraded."
Some critics of the proposition say it is not specific enough in how the money will be spent, and that it would dedicate public funds to private institutions.
"While the League supports quality healthcare for all Californians, Prop 4 would use $1.5 billion in public, general obligation bond money to support privately owned children's hospitals, along with five children's hospitals in the University of California system," according to the the League of Women Voters of California. "State funds should not be used to support private facilities. This principle stands even when, as is the case in this measure, the facilities serve severely ill children."
