CA: San Francisco Approves Universal Health Care

Combining proposals from the city's mayor and other advocates, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Monday gave initial and unanimous approval to a plan to extend health care coverage to all uninsured residents in the city. The plan would require businesses and other employers not providing health insurance to their employees to pay $1.06 or $1.60 per hour per worker, depending on the size of the company. The balance of the estimated $200 million annual cost of the program would be covered by consumer premiums and co-payments and by the $104 million a year San Francisco already spends on providing care to uninsured patients at city clinics and hospitals. Medical care would be provided at city clinics and hospitals that already treat residents who qualify for the state's public health insurance for poor Californians. Here is the ordinance approved by the Board.