S.F. Unveils Universal Health Care Plan: Illegal Immigrants Apply Early
via S.F. Business Times: SPECIAL SURVEY
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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has set up a committee to recommend how the city can fund health coverage for uninsured city residents. The committee has discussed a plan that would cost about $200 per person for the estimated 82,000 San Franciscans who don’t have health coverage through work or elsewhere. The idea is to call on employers as well as workers, health-care providers and the city to pay for the coverage.
Do you favor taxing businesses and others to fund health care for uninsured San Francisco residents?
Answer here: Si? or No?
AP reports: “The city would offer health care to any adult resident, regardless of immigration or employment status, under a plan announced [last] Tuesday.”
Knowing how Gavin Newsom feels about illegal immigrants, there’s really no surprise. Squandering others’ money and promoting subversive politics is just another day at City Hall in San Francisco.
The plan, which still needs be approved by the city’s Board of Supervisors, is aimed at 82,000 uninsured residents who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, said Mayor Gavin Newsom. San Francisco 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.”
Translation: More taxes on those who are already being taxed.
“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.”
$420 a year? When you’re earning $30,000? And living in San Francisco? Good luck.
Details of how the employer contribution would work were scheduled to be presented Wednesday to the Board of Supervisors. Approval is expected, though the details could change.
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, said that 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.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes this installment of how socialist San Francisco is driving business out of the city. Nobless oblige.
UPDATE:
S.F. Business Times reports: “City officials said about $104 million will come by redirecting money already being spent on health care for the uninsured in San Francisco. Another $55 million likely will come from enrolee premiums. That leaves a gap of about $40 million. Much of that likely will be covered by businesses.”
Technorati Tags: San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, Healthcare, Illegal Immigrants, Liberals
June 30th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Consider that: 1) we already pay for the emergency care of the uninsured, 2) $ spent on preventative care saves in emergency care costs… resulting in LESS cost to the citizens. Universal health care SAVES money. Our current system costs more per capita than in any other Western democracy, yet our overall health is below the average… hmm…
Now SF doing by themselves may be foolhardy though… what we really need is for it to be nationwide… the result will be REDUCED health care costs for employers and employees…
June 30th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
Roger,
I am sorry but I lived in countries with nationalized health care and would not support implementing it here.
If you want an idea of what it is like go out and get the WORST HMO policy you can find. That is better then nationalized health care.
There IS a reason why anyone and everyone who can buys supplimental health care insurance in places which have nationalized health care.
A better solution is to quit paying for health care for illegal aliens. That will take a very big chunk out of the amount that is spent on public health care. Don’t give me that “boo-hoo! people will die!” crap either. If you want to pay for 11 million Mexicans to ahve free health care be my guest-do NOT expect me to.
July 1st, 2006 at 3:42 pm
“I am sorry but I lived in countries with nationalized health care and would not support implementing it here.”
You bet. In the early 90’s, while in the Air Force, I spent 11 days as a “guest” of the Italian health care system after suffering an eye injury. The bottom line is that I wouldn’t recommend the joys of Italian health care to my worst enemy (well, maybe Osama or Saddam!) if my life depended on it. The quality of health care was little short of “Third World.”
Try eating hospital pasta morning, noon, and night for 11 days and you’ll quickly realize what I mean. “No Smoking” policies in-hospital? Forget about it! Don’t even get me started on the barracks-like accomodations…..
Ah, memories……
July 1st, 2006 at 6:36 pm
I work for San Francisco “government”. This latest assault on business will pass the Board of Supervisors, our version of the city council. And, yes, businesses will close…lots of them. And, if the cutoff for contributing to this tax is 20 employees or more, I would not want to be number 20. This tax, on a firm with 20 employees, will cost the business almost $43,000 a year. For a company with 100 workers, the cost is nearly $400,000 a year. The Che-wannabes on the Board of Supervisors simply DO NOT CARE what this does to business because they see business as nothing but a cash cow. This cash cow has been funding nearly $200,000,000 in “homeless services” for our 10,000 people on General Assistance, which they may receive forever. In contrast, Orange County, with 2 million people, has less than 1000 on GA. All the counties around SF have a 90 day limit on GA, but not us. The city government refuses to let Walmart (gasp!), Target, or any other big box store locate in the city, so our poor get to travel to Oakland to buy stuff, or shop at the famous “local, independent businesses” that have crap and charge four times as much. But we are Progressive!! To the last, dying, business, we are Progressive. I often wonder how the city expects to fund the endless “social services” when most businesses leave. The middle class is pretty much gone. The rich always do well, the poor live like the wrong side of Guatemala, the the professional vagrants litter our streets and crap in our doorways. If you want to see what an American city looks like under Marxism, come and take a look.
July 5th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Instead of taxing businesses, tax only city government employees a 2% income tax. Sure this probably makes no economic sense, but the joy of SF economics is you get to try fun Marxist stuff like that to see what happens.
July 19th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
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September 5th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
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