San Francisco Voters Hike Retirees’ Health Care Payments
San Francisco Proposition E, a measure that requires city taxpayers to pay a larger portion of health insurance costs for retired city workers, won last night by a "comfortable margin," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The measure will cover 50% of medical insurance expenses for city government, school district and city college retirees, and 50% of the cost of one dependent, regardless of the health plan the retired workers choose. With an estimated annual price tag of $12.5 million a year, the measure stirred some controversy. Critics warned there was "no telling how high costs could rise." But supporters, including the entire Board of Supervisors and "well-financed groups representing retirees," said the measure was about "fairness and keeping promises made to workers when health care costs were more manageable" (Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/8).
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