Restaurant Association Won’t Drop Suit Against Healthy S.F. Funding
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association declined a request to drop its lawsuit challenging a key funding provision of the Healthy San Francisco program if the city agreed to freeze the amount employers are required to contribute toward health care costs, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, 4/29).
Healthy San Francisco aims to provide universal access to health care services for San Francisco residents, but it does not constitute health insurance because the program only covers services in San Francisco.
Lawsuit Details
GGRA's lawsuit seeks to overturn a provision of the program that requires employers in the city to share the cost of employees' health care.
Under the law that created Healthy San Francisco, employers with at least 20 workers must provide health insurance benefits, pay the city for coverage through Healthy San Francisco or contribute to health care accounts for employees (California Healthline, 3/30).
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce in the fall if it will consider GGRA's challenge to the employer contribution provision (California Healthline, 3/31).
Offer, Rejection
Employer contribution rates are set to increase on Jan. 1, 2010, but San Francisco Department of Public Health Director Mitch Katz offered to waive the fee hike if GGRA would drop its court challenge.
Kevin Westlye, executive director of GGRA, said the group's board declined Katz's offer, in part because Katz could not guarantee how long the freeze would last (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/29). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.