SF First US City to offer Universal Health Care!

This is awesome and a long time coming-hopefully it will spread to other cities Quote:> San Francisco unveils universal health care plan - By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, June 20, 2006 (06-20) 16:19 PDT San Francisco (AP) -- Officials unveiled a plan Tuesday to make The City the first in the nation to provide health care to all its residents through contributions from the municipal government and private employers. The proposal, aimed at 82,000 uninsured San Franciscans who earn too much to qualify for federally subsidized insurance, would offer access to a doctor and hospital network to any adult who lives in the city regardless of their immigration or employment status, said Mayor Gavin Newsom. The city already provides universal health care for children. "Rather than lamenting about the fact that we live in a country with 45.8 million Americans that don't have health insurance ... San Francisco is doing something about it," Newsom said. "San Francisco is moving forward to fulfill its moral obligation." Newsom stressed that the so-called Health Access Plan was not meant to take the place of private health insurance, but rather provide a way to consistently treat people without insurance so they don't end up seeking medical care in hospital emergency rooms. Unlike health insurance, for example, the city's plan would not cover the cost of any medical services its participants seek outside San Francisco, and it would not be open to people who work, but do not live in the city. What it would provide is comprehensive preventive and catastrophic health care, covering everything from checkups, prescription drugs and X-rays to ambulance rides, blood tests and surgeries. Residents would be allowed to enroll despite any pre-existing medical conditions and would be able to choose from 400 doctors who participate in the San Francisco Health Plan, an HMO for low and middle-income clients. The city estimates the plan would cost $200 million a year, an expense that would be borne by taxpayers, businesses that don't already insure all their workers, and participants themselves. Residents would pay both monthly fees and service co-payments on a sliding scale depending on income. A person with annual earnings at the federal poverty line would pay $3 per month, while someone who makes between $19,600 and $40,000 — or up to 400 percent above the poverty line — would pay an average of $35 per month. Details of how the employer contribution would work were scheduled to be presented Wednesday to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which must approve the plan. The most recent version, sponsored by Supervisor Tom Ammiano, would require every business with more than 20 employees to pay $1.60 an hour into the system for all employees not already covered by a health plan, no matter how few hours they work. Laurie Thomas, owner of three restaurants in San Francisco, fumed on Tuesday as officials congratulated each other on the plan that was hammered out by a council Newsom appointed. Thomas, who was a member of the council, said she already contributes to health insurance for her employees who work more than 28 hours a week, but that the hourly mandate Ammiano is proposing would put her out of business. Mitchell Katz, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said the plan reflects a compromise and that it would be difficult for cities with bigger and poorer populations to replicate San Francisco's model . One reason San Francisco can put together the program is the socially conscious city already invests $104 million of its own to provide uninsured residents basic health care at city clinics, money that would be diverted to the new program. "The employee isn't getting a Cadillac, but a basic level of care. The employer isn't getting away with not paying a thing, but the original legislation would have had them paying more," Katz said. >>