A good rule of thumb for assessing the value of a business is to look at how much its owners will spend to defend it from regulations. By that measure, the dialysis business is very valuable indeed.
We can determine that from the money the two leading companies in the field are spending to defeat Proposition 29 in next month's election.
The companies are Denver-based DaVita and the German firm Fresenius Medical Care, which together own about 75% of the 650 licensed dialysis clinics in California.