Big Spenders Betting Money Talks on Health-Care Ballot Issues

Big money is betting on health-care initiatives in California, Oregon, and Colorado where voters are being asked Nov. 3 to add taxes on vaping, mandate that doctors always be on site when dialysis centers are open, and approve $5.5 billion in bonds for the sole stem cell research funding agency in the country.

Tens of millions of dollars are fueling arguments over what to fund and why “because, essentially, people are more interested in health-care initiatives,” said Arturo Vargas Bustamante, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The two big-ticket ...