The California Primary Care Association and Open Door Community Health Centers filed a lawsuit Thursday to stop Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West from placing an initiative on the November ballot that would dictate how clinics spend money.
CalMatters reports the clinic's lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that the union's ballot measure would interfere with federal laws and regulations that place strict spending requirements on nonprofit health clinics that serve low-income patients.
A spokesperson for the healthcare workers union said the proposed initiative was "legally sound" and called the lawsuit a "desperate attempt by the clinic industry to avoid accountability."
The clinic association, however, argues that the initiative would illegally force hundreds of community health centers to close by stripping nearly two billion dollars from health systems.
