Ballot initiatives include cannabis and insurance measures

A number of states will vote on ballot measures related to substance use, insurance and other health-related issues on November 5th – in addition to the 11 states related to abortion Measures in front of the voters.

The health-related initiatives cover a range of topics.

Voters in California, South Dakota and Illinois will be asked about changes to insurance programs, while New Mexico, Nevada and Washington state will weigh changes related to nursing facilities.

Four states – Florida, South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska – will consider different efforts to legalize cannabis, while voters in California and Arizona will favor changing drug-related penalties.

West Virginia will also vote on an initiative that asks voters whether they support a ban on medically assisted suicide and euthanasia in the state constitution. Both chambers of the state Legislature voted to place the measure on the ballot in March.

“I think this is going to be big. “This is something that people are watching very closely because this will be the first state to work to ensure that there are constitutional protections against physician-assisted suicide,” said Peter Northcott, director of state strategies for the National Law on Life.

Medical or physician-assisted death is legal in 10 states and Washington, D.C. for terminally ill patients seeking help prescribing lethal medications. Euthanasia is illegal nationwide and refers to the administration of lethal medication to a patient by a provider.

Insurance

South Dakota Medicaid InitiativeIf passed, the bill would aim to impose Medicaid work requirements on eligible individuals who have not been diagnosed with a physical or mental disability. The state before submitted a waiver of a work requirements pilot program in 2018 that was never approved.

South Dakota expanded Medicaid will be passed by ballot in 2022 to cover more low-income, childless adults.

While work requirements are popular with Republican lawmakers, if the ballot initiative is approved, such requirements would have to be approved by the federal government, a step that would be unlikely if Democrat Kamala Harris were elected president.

California will vote on Proposition 35, which would impose a permanent tax on managed health plans and reserves for Medicaid services.

And Illinois will vote on a measure on whether to recommend elected officials cover assisted reproductive treatments such as IVF, even though all health insurance plans in Illinois currently cover pregnancy services. In contrast to most other state initiatives, this is non-binding.

Nursing services

Two states could see changes to senior and long-term care funding.

In New Mexico, Bond question 1 would authorize the state to issue up to $30 million in bonds to finance senior living facilities. Washington’s Initiative 2124 would require people to elect coverage under the state’s new long-term health care program, funded by a payroll tax and approved under a previous ballot initiative.

Additionally, California voters will choose Whether to require health care providers that spend more than $100 million over a 10-year period on anything other than direct patient care and that have operated multifamily properties with more than 500 serious health and safety violations to report 98 percent of their 340B Drug prices to issue program discounts on direct patient care.

Opponents call it a “revenge measure” and point out that the proposal is supported by the California Association of Realtors and appears to target the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has supported three state rent control measures.

State campaign finance data shows there are both opponents and supporters of the measure have raised $48.2 million as of filing through Oct. 19.

Nevada voters will consider changing language in the state constitution for public facilities that serve people with mental illness, blindness or deafness.

Drug policy

A handful of states will vote on whether to legalize cannabis or psychedelics.

Recreational use of cannabis is currently legal in 24 states, and this year Florida, South Dakota and North Dakota hope to make that happen as voters in those states will vote on adult-only legalization measures. Nebraska voters will decide on two initiatives to legalize medical cannabis.

Medical marijuana is currently legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

For the Florida initiative to pass, 60 percent of the vote is required. Nebraska’s initiatives require a simple majority and the court’s approval.

South and North Dakota will try again to pass failed legalization efforts starting in the 2022 midterm elections. Both states require a simple majority for adoption.

Voters in Massachusetts will vote on whether to legalize herbal psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms for people 21 and older. If approved, Massachusetts would become the third state in the country to legalize such substances. together with Oregon and Colorado.

Additionally, two states will vote on whether to increase some drug-related penalties.

California Proposal 36 would classify certain drug offenses as felonies requiring drug treatment. It would also increase penalties for certain drug offenses and require courts to warn people convicted of distributing illegal drugs of future potential prosecution if they distribute deadly drugs.

Arizona is voting on Proposition 314, which would make knowingly selling fentanyl a felony if the drug results in the death of another person.

Sandhya Raman contributed to this report.