impact. furthermore, his analysis did not take into account, to the best of my understanding, at the restaurant industry has passed on the cost of the increased expenditures to consumers. that would further mitigate the effect and further reduce his estimates. thank you. next speaker please. -- supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> i work for a technology company that contacted me with a larger company. they were basically paid by the company to pay me and to pay for my health spending account. last year, december 27, they made a quarterly deposit of $900 into a account. i was not notified of that and i was not aware that the account was in existence.

when i found out about it and went to use the money, it had already expired. it was the use it or lose it option. i had over $900 from prescriptions that i needed to use, which i had to pay out of pocket. this loophole needs to be closed, so that people like myself can use the money that this ordinance has put in place to use. it is just kind of a hardship on me, someone who lives paycheck to paycheck, to have to pay that money out of pocket when it is supposed to be a benefit supervisor campos:. supervisor campos: thank you. i do want to thank the workers there are coming out, sharing their stories. i know it is personal. let me read a few more names.

[reading names] >> hello, supervisors. i have been a nurse at san but this could general for over 20 years -- san francisco general for over 20 years. i am here to refute the perception that young people do not need health care and do not get sick. [laughter] >> in terms of preventive care, women's health issues, men's health issues, tuberculosis care, screening. those are the kinds of things addressed by having access to preventive care. as a post-anesthesia care nurse, i see many examples of unexpected trauma. young people are usually walking or bicycling, the victims of pedestrian auto accidents. they are usually the victims of

the unintended crime,. usually, the criminal is not the one thing for their bills. it is something that we see. in closing, i just want to ask that you close this loophole so that our constituents in san francisco will be covered, and not at the cost of the taxpayer. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> it is convenient to come after the others that just spoke because -- sorry, i am jennifer pilas. we have had a 27-year-old with appendicitis. $20,000 for one night in hospital. we had a waitress hit by a car, $30,000. all of this was covered because we had full insurance. even if they had hra that did

not zero out at the end of the year, it would not even come close. i would also like to say, as one of the restaurants turning a $1 per person surcharge, it offends me that there are so many restaurants that are putting a percentage on to the bills that we are paying and thanot providg the service. it is fraudulent and misleading. i love when people ask me, what is this $1 for? i can say that everyone has full health insurance, benefits and a 401k match. [applause] we have full benefits. i would just like to thank you, supervisor campos. i would love to see the day when the playing field is leveled and every restauranteur -- i also

want to appreciate everybody who comes to my restaurants, for writing everybody with full benefits. supervisor campos: one thing that i keep hearing, it is impossible for restaurants and businesses to comply with this and still survive. what is your reaction to that? how do you do it? >> when i waited tables, i believe restaurateur's had the hardest job ever. that is not true. it is the dishwashers. i think you can do good and still do well. i have never made as much as i do in my lifetime, and i have been in restaurants for 25 years. i also never had health insurance until i took over. i do not hold the party line and do not believe we cannot make it work.

with the help of san francisco and our customers, who have been generous with their $1 payments, it is doable. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> [speaking spanish] >> good morning. i work for the restaurants. i am here because me and my co- workers, we are eligible for hra's, but most of us do not

know about it or do not know how to access it. for a lot of us who do have money, the employers keep it at the end of the year because they do not let us know about it, or they make it complicated for us to access it, especially when our first language is not english. for example, where i work, they told us about our account. when i asked them how to access it, all they told us was to call this number, and then they would

help us figure it out. >> [speaking spanish] >> i had to pay some costs out of my own pocket. when i inquired about these accounts, i was told that i no longer had the money. >> despite all this, my restaurant continues to charge customers this feat. -- fee. some customers ask what it is for, and it is for health care,

even though we do not have it, and even some customers refuse to pay the fee. thank you for listening. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. i have a few more names to read. [reading names] >> good morning. my name is edwin escobar. this loophole is unjust and unfair. i am a restaurant worker, here in san francisco. three months ago, in april, i was in a bicycle accident in the city. if it was not for this health care ordinates, i would not be able to pay off the emergency bill. i got my bill from sf general,

and it was $3,300 for a four- hour visit to the emergency room. i got some stitches, some painkillers. this year alone, i have been working part-time. this health care is really beneficial. it would be much better to close this loophole. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning, supervisors. we are here to support the closing of the loophole. the chinese workers association have been serving the chinese community for 40 years now. our members have high rates of poor health because they are working long hours. i have heard of some people working 17 hours a day, sweat

shop conditions. low wages lead to bad housing conditions in sro's, and that leads to bad health. my aunt was a low-wage worker. she was denied treatment. one day, she died in her sleep. she is survived by her two sons. for folks who do not get treatment, that cost would then be on the taxpayers. also for the chinese community, a lot of people do not speak english. people get for notice. when people get health care, they do not even know if they provide health care, even though they have over 20 workers in their workplace.

in one case, a worker wanted to testify, but she is afraid because of her workplace. her employer changed to the health spending account. you need to close this loophole. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. let me read a few more names. >> my name is paul carey and i work at a hotel in downtown union square. since 2009, when we implemented this health care system, we were

not informed at all, like most people here, what it was for and how we could use it. the first year i find out about it was 11 months later, december 2009. we implemented in january. we figured out what this was about. by the time i figured it out, i had already lost $900. some of the workers who work 40 hours, and a half x-amount of dollars, he may have the same amount of dollars as me even though he worked less. we had an employee come down here last year. three weeks later, he was terminated.

he had an account that was delinquent. nothing was contributed and in the meantime, he was terminated. they are after me next. i hope we can close these loopholes. all the information that i collected, helping the people that worked with me, i am the one that set people up with e- mails and so forth. my employer did not do anything. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning, members of the board. i am an analyst of the curve and accountability office. this morning, i am not a representative of diego. i did research for my master's thesis. i conducted a study from january

to may 2010. the authors of labor enforcement was interested in how these programs work. my results will be available after the meeting. through my research, historically, hra's have been used as a consumer health care plan model. these are often offered in tandem with a health spending account. however, although hra's are often offered in tandem with high-tech plants, it is possible to provide these without coverage for catastrophic illnesses. you have also pointed out,

controlled by employers since they can decide what they want to cover and whether they want to keep the money or roll it over to employers the following year. i also had the opportunity to speak to several employee benefit experts who said outside of san francisco, hra's are not offered without a health insurance plan. they were shocked when i mentioned that this was happening in san francisco. with more research, i found several benefits, brokers within and outside san francisco were targeting san francisco employers to sell the stand- alone hra. i have some evidence here that will show -- supervisor campos: do you have a copy of that? >thank you.

next speaker please. i am going to read a few names. >> committee members, i am the senior pastor at the true hope baptist church in hunters view breakpoin. i am on several other community interest groups. we are very concerned about this audience. -- ordinance. i see a moral issue here. here again, we see those who have achieved in our society, trying to balance their situation on the backs of the port. that is a poor choice.

the san francisco health care ordinance works. more than 50,000 san franciscans, residents have access to health care through healthy san francisco. the health ordinance saves taxpayers money. a loophole cheats workers, as we have seen in the committee today. another point i would like to make, closing the loophole in the health care ordinance create scalable playing field of san francisco businesses. currently, the local creates an incentive for employers not to comply with the spirit of the

legislation, and that is a devastating thing. not only the you have the intellect and knowledge of it, but the spirit of it. i hope you will improve this area and make sure the people of san francisco will be adequately represented. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> otis charles. i speak on behalf of the episcopal diocese of california. we wish to show our support for the amendment that you are proposing to the current san francisco health care insurance. nationally, the episcopal church has urged a single payer, universal health care system. what we have in san francisco is very close to this ideal. healthy san francisco works and provides money for those who

need health care. it is unfortunate that some unscrupulous small businesses have found a way to make money out of this. the intent of the law, as you know, is to provide business and affordable way to health care for many who are uninsured, not to make money out of it. we are called to stand with the least in our community. we are here to support the amendment that will protect workers. more than 62 million is being set aside for employees in reimbursement accounts, yet we are told less than 20% of that is being paid out. at the end of the year, the employers take back the money. this is immoral and unacceptable. the richest person gives

generously to the needy -- righteous person gives generously to the needy. we are all accountable of how we manage our affairs and the business of our community. we call to accountability, those who cheat their workers and dishonesty practice their business. we look to you, our legislators, to perfect the laws, in order to protect. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. [reading names] >> good morning. i am here on behalf of health access california. i would like to think the board

for your commitment to providing access to health care to all who live and work in san francisco. we recognize san francisco as a leader in health care reform, here in california and throughout the united states, since the passage of the health care security ordinance. we hope you continue to live up to the promise of providing meaningful care to the population. i ask that you support the amendment to close the loophole in san francisco's health care security ordinance. my focus today is to discuss how young people would benefit from this amendment. contrary to conventional wisdom, young people do get sick. according to the journal of adolescent health, young people have the highest rate of injury- related emergency room visits among all age groups, and 50% of young americans have chronic conditions. young adults need health care benefits. young people do not purchase health care benefits because

they cannot afford the cost of coverage. two-thirds of young workers ages 18 to 29 make less than $43,000 a year, and 23% of young adults live below the poverty level. san francisco workers need this amendment so that when they are injured, they will have access to their accumulated health care fund. i encourage you to forward this to the full board with recommendations to be approved. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning. to the chair, my name is archbishop -- i want to thank you and i want to read some scripture. this loophole is being closed. legislation is meant to come

back and correct it. we fully support what you are doing. but let us also say the president of the united states has followed this city and county's lead for health care. you should give yourselves a round of applause for providing every american with the chance to debate and be involved in health care process. no one has stepped up to the plate but san francisco workers and businesses, which does not happen every day. let me read you a part of the scripture. xromans 12:1,2. your responsibility, as a servant, to be not conform to

of this world, but be transferred by the renewing of your minds. that you may provide what is good and acceptable and perfect to god. in other words, what you are doing today would set the record straight for san francisco workers. you are also doing something that will help pay for this, by bringing more business to san francisco, as well as the america's cup. these things that we are doing today will benefit san francisco tomorrow. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> greetings of peace. i mam the imam of the san francisco muslim society.

i want to read to you two versus from a wholly koran. -- holy koran. this is a from chapter 34 and 35. chapter 34 reminds us on the day of judgment we shall stand and be asked about agreements or covenants that were not filled or honored. 35 moves to talk about the good that comes from using the dry

measure to measure grains properly, and urges us to use scales of balance with exactness, and with the good of doing so. for those who may have studied islam, early on, leaders felt a great burden, that on the day of judgment they would be held as possible for the orphan, for those who might stand a chance of being cheated, or having their money taken away unjustly. will you be held responsible? supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> i am a physician assistant.

i work in health care in san francisco since 1982, recently, at st. luke's. i would like to say something as a mother. when my daughter was 10, her best friend's mother had as much. they had no insurance and she was afraid to call the ambulance. she had an asthma attack and died. there is a myth that people without insurance end up on the county. many of them do, but we should not be causing employers to cut that to happen. we called them welfar them welf. however, many people do not go to the hospital at all and die.

i have seen many of them in my career. when healthy san francisco and hra's came into being, i cannot tell you how happy the patients were to come in to get coverage. i want to say something about employers. i have done a great deal of work in workers' comp, something of a parallel system. employers who do not buy into the system and tell their workers, do not worry, i will pay for it -- which is not possible. then they bribe them to leave the area or the patients simply does not get treatment. this is very common. of course, the burden for worker's comp gets spread out among everyone who plays by