San Diego County Doctors Issue Grave Diagnosis: Our Local Healthcare & Public Safety Systems Are In Danger—Unless Voters Back Measure B

SAN DIEGO, CA—Yesterday, doctors gathered at the Registrar of Voters to examine and diagnose the ailments plaguing San Diego County’s local healthcare and public safety systems, offering a grim prognosis unless voters pass Measure B on November 3.

Washington’s severe Medicaid cuts on top of the ending of federal ACA subsidies are pushing San Diego County toward a region-wide public health emergency. Physicians caution that these funding losses, alongside the environmental hazards of the Tijuana River sewage crisis, place unprecedented pressure on local medical infrastructure and emergency services.

“Taken together, today’s exam shows a patient under serious strain: coverage disappearing, ERs overflowing, 911 calls waiting, and air that is making people and children sick,” said Dr. Vi T. Nguyen, Co-Founder, San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air and a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente (title and association given for identification purposes only.) “All of which threaten to collapse our healthcare system in San Diego County, regardless if you have the best insurance or none at all.” 

San Diego County hospitals and our emergency responders are already feeling the strain. Right now, one in four 911 calls are put on hold. And the loss of coverage for San Diegans means people put off care until it’s an absolute emergency–which will further strain our frontline systems. 

Measure B is designed to prevent the collapse of our local healthcare system by restoring coverage for individuals, shoring up county support for hospitals, and by investing in 911 call infrastructure and hiring more dispatchers. 

“Measure B will protect preventative healthcare and will also support our local hospitals for uninsured or underinsured folks, so clinics can stay open and patients can see a doctor before a problem becomes an emergency,” said Dr. Marsha Spitzer, a pediatrician at a San Diego community clinic. 

Measure B is a citizen-led initiative on the November 2026 ballot designed to protect local healthcare coverage, public health programs, 911 emergency response, and combat the Tijuana River sewage crisis. Measure B is endorsed by community advocates and labor including League of Women Voters San Diego, Planned Parenthood  Action Fund of the Pacific Southwest, American Academy of Pediatrics American Academy of Pediatrics, California Chapter 3 (AAP-CA3), San Diego County Firefighters CAL FIRE Local 2881, and First 5 San Diego. For more information and a full list of our endorsements, visit www.voteyesonmeasureb.org. 

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