Health

Businesses to Pay for Employee Health Care after Appeals Court
Lets Health Care Security Ordinance go Through

On Wednesday, Jan. 9, a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the city's request to uphold the employer-mandate provision of the 2006 San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO). As a result, the effective date for San Francisco employers to comply is now January 9, 2008.

The HCSO ordinance requires all employers with 50 or more employees in San Francisco to make health care expenditures on behalf of those employees each calendar quarter, effective January 9. For for-profit employers with between 20 and 49 employees, the effective date is April 1, 2008.

Visit the OLSE's website at http://www.sfgov.org/site/olse.

The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a series of seminars with representatives from the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement and Healthy San Francisco in order to educate business owners on how to be in compliance with the ordinance. Each of the seminars will take place in the Chamber boardroom.

Register Here

• Thursday, April 24th, 8:30 – 10:30 am

For more information, contact Paula Zamudio at 415-352-8818 or pzamudio@sfchamber.com.

Attendees can join Joannie Chang from the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, Barry Schenbaum from Healthy San Francisco, SF Works and the Chamber to learn how the ordinance affects their business. Business owners will also have the opportunity to meet with resource providers and select from a menu of solutions that will ensure that your business is in compliance with the ordinance. Attendees are asked to pre-register. Registration will begin at 8:15 am in the Chamber Boardroom.

California Needs Health Care Reform...
But Business Can't Shoulder the Entire Burden

Steven B. Falk, President & CEO
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
415-352-8820

Scott Hauge, President,
Small Business California
415-680-2109

For the past year and a half, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and Small Business California have been engaged in the debate over how to fix our broken health care system – a crisis that threatens to undermine the state and national economy. Costs are rising faster than businesses can keep up with, and workers are going uninsured largely due to the burden of cost, especially as it hits small businesses.

Those California employers who can afford to offer health care insurance are paying an average of 88 percent of the health care premium for single employees and 76.2 percent of the health care premium for employees with families. It's easy to see how costs can overwhelm a business' ability to pay as health care premiums are rising in California faster than anywhere else in the country – 8.7 percent last year alone. And, small employers (three to 199 workers) suffer the most, experiencing average premium increases of 10.9 percent.

We desperately need comprehensive reform that makes health care more affordable so that the insured no longer pay higher premiums in order to cover the uninsured. As employers, we cannot be expected to continue paying such high premiums for our employees while also shouldering the entire financial burden for health care reform.

We believe that any state plan for health care reform must contain the following key elements:

Shared Responsibility. If the goal is universal access – and it should be – everyone must share in making universal coverage possible. There needs to be mandatory participation by employers and individuals. Statewide reform that includes shared responsibility for paying for health care is preferable to either a local mandate or the status quo. Currently the only plan with true shared responsibility is Governor Schwarzenegger's.

Comprehensive. Reform must address all issues that impact the availability and cost of care. There should be wide choice of available coverage, increased reimbursements to MediCal service providers, subsidized coverage for low-income residents and guaranteed issuance.

Cost Containment. The increasing cost of care limits access. Costs must be managed to assure universal access and the long term viability of any state program.

Affordable. Any state legislation must be affordable to business – especially small businesses – and to individuals, provide access to all and prevent cost increases that exceed the rate of inflation.

Wellness. Preventative health care benefits must be included, with programs that reward healthy behavior. The health care system should increasingly emphasize wellness and staying healthy. This is a key component of Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal, and one with which the Chamber and Small Business California are in strong agreement.

Now that a budget has been passed, the legislature needs to get back to the important task of health care reform. But it's not just enough for us to echo what others are saying, that we need "health care reform passed this year." While that's true, it must first and foremost be the right solution. We will continue to oppose a single-payer system or a mandate that applies only to employers, leaving a huge number of Californians uninsured.

Health care reform is one of the toughest problems California has faced in recent years, but by including shared responsibility and following the key policy points outlined above, we can realize the goal of accomplishing real – and vitally needed – health care reform for California.