San\nFrancisco, California has taken matters into their own hands, becoming the\nfirst major U.S. city to offer universal health care access. Designed to complement\nthe Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other state and local laws, the Healthy San\nFrancisco (HSF) program was created to provide health care access to all\nresidents within the city\u2019s limits regardless of employment, immigration or\nhealth status. To meet the criteria, city residents must be 18 years old and\nhave no other health care options. They may earn up to 500 percent of the\nfederal poverty level and still qualify. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
HSF\nwas the brainchild of Democratic council member Tom Ammiano, who came up with\nthe idea back in February 2006. It quickly won the support of labor unions and\ncitizen groups who had been stymied in their efforts to expand health care\naccess at the federal and state levels. Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor at the\ntime, had vetoed a single-payer bill and the future of any widespread\nlegislation being passed at the federal level looked shaky at best, prompting\nthe city to take the lead. In the intervening years, HSF is providing\ninspiration for other cities around the country who want to enact their own\nlocal health initiatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funding\nfor HSF is acquired through a number of sources including the city\u2019s general\nfund, an employer mandate and participant fees. Approximately 14,000 patients\nare served through nearly three dozen community health centers and six\nhospitals. Patients enroll in a \u201chome clinic\u201d where their doctor can determine\nwhen specialty care at a hospital is required. 96.7 percent of San Francisco\nresidents now have health care coverage, a number well in excess of the\nstatewide average of 92.7 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other\ncities around the country are following suit. Los Angeles launched My Health LA\nin 2015, a similar program that provides health care access for patients who\ncan\u2019t qualify or are unable to afford other types of coverage. And New York\nCity announced an NYC Care program just a few weeks ago that will provide care\nand coverage for all city residents. There are differences among all three\nplans, but this is to be expected; health care coverage is not a\none-size-fits-all proposition and cities have different medical infrastructures\nin place. But it\u2019s a promising start to a nationwide problem, one that is now\nat the forefront of the political agenda. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Universal health care has been a rallying cry for the Democrat party in recent years and will continue to be a hot-button issue as we move toward the 2020 election. With a solid plan a necessity for any viable presidential nominee, some candidates are turning their attention to Europe for solutions \u2013 while others are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"schema":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-resources"],"yoast_head":"\n
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