Interesting news out of San Francisco, where a federal appeals court granted the city permission to require employers (private companies with 20+ or nonprofits with 50+ employees) to share the cost of providing uninsured adults residents with health coverage. This reversed a December 26th decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White that ruled against making employers share the cost.
The new ordinance will provide access to care for approximately 73,000 uninsured adult residents in San Francisco at an estimated cost of $200 million annually. This would be funded by state/local taxes, income-weighted patient payments, and fees from employers (with the aforementioned number of employees) that do not offer insurance.
The current case is the result of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association challenging the ordinance and Judge White’s ruling that it violated a 1974 federal law against governments from regulating employee benefit plans. The appeals court disagreed and stated the ordinance did not directly regulate the plans since employers could pay a fee instead.
While this decision allows the city to enforce the ordinance, it could be overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals when they make their final decision. Since it is unlikely the Court of Appeals will change its mind, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association could take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Some also believe that the decision provides the proposed California health care law with better legal standing.
One important note about the San Francisco ordinance is that it is limited to the city whereas the law passed by Massachusetts in April 2006 provides insurance throughout the state. Since passing that law the legislature in Massachusetts has found that it is very difficult to collect those fees from businesses and has had to reach compromises on how many people would be exempt from the mandate.
It will be interesting to see how this decision and any changes by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the CA legislature will affect the Presidential race as well as Congressional races, which may ultimately determine the shape of the nation’s potentially new health care plan.
Tags: California, Massachusetts, San Francisco, Universal Health Care
January 11, 2008 at 1:57 am |
[...] for uninsured- Some fallout from the Massachusetts universal health care plan that we alluded to in Tuesday’s post about San Francisco. Apparently, the legislature in Massachusetts is having a tough time getting people to obtain [...]
January 20, 2008 at 9:55 am |
[...] Michael Moore wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptSome also believe that the decision provides the proposed California health care law with better legal standing. One important note about the San Francisco ordinance is that it is limited to the city whereas the law passed by … [...]