plan is about preserving healthy san francisco, we're here today to talk about why healthy san francisco and the health care security ordinance is still really important even with obama care, so locally under the health care security ordinance, the minimum workers is 20 but if the ordinance was replaced by the affordable care act, the minimum would be raised to 50. this is important because lez people would be covered or get health care and businesses and instead businesses should also share the profits by helping the workers get health care. the health care security ordinance would secure that more workers would get health care and health care is the human right and everyone should have the right to access health care regardless of their income.

thank you. >> thank you. i'm going to call a few more names. (calling speaker names). next speaker. >> hi, supervisors, my name is judy and i'm a resident of the easier neighborhood and i'm part of the chinese progressive association, i parent panted in klektsing surveys and presenting our recommendations to the health care services master plan task force. as was said earlier, a lot of companies are cutting their employees' hours because they don't want to pay for health care, that's not fair and i don't want that to happen in san francisco, our local law limits employers to do this because they have to put aside for their workers' health care based on each hour the employer has worked and my family can't

afford private insurance, this is a lot of the case of other health care workers in san francisco who work in restaurants or retail, they need health care security ordinance so everybody can have access to affordable quality health care. thank you very much. >> thank you very much, next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors, my name is wayne lee, i've been a resident of san francisco for the past 8 years, i'm a member of chinese progressive association, so i'm here to share why it is important for our city and community members, my family is documented which excludes us from the affordable care act, we are not able to buy insurance from the exchanges but the only solution for us is through healthy sf, i

have an older brother who was diagnosed with brain cancer three years ago, my parents were worried he would not be able to sur va*if because we couldn't afford expensive treatment, lucky a doctored was able to make sure my brother was taken care of and with radiation and surgery, he's home after recovering from rehabilitation, i'm happy he got the treatment he needed and healthy sf will give him the opportunity to complete his road to recovery, for my family's sake, it must not stop there. without healthy sf, i don't know how my brother would have gotten better. they -- i didn't know my family would be illegible for

healthy sf, it is the only option for indocumented residence, even passing the immigration requirement in congress, under the current proposal, undocumented residents are being intentionally left out of accessing health care, and having access to health care is a human right. as a city that is strong to have equality for all, please show this regulates to how we treat san francisco residents health care. >> thank you. i just want to note for the audience, we want to move the meeting along, to i would ask that you refrain from applause, you can do hand signals if you want, but we want to make sure we respect your time and we give everyone an opportunity to speak, so thank you very much for your patience, go ahead.

>> hi, supervisor, my name is susan fang, i'm a health policy [inaudible] with the chinese progressive association, i was also born and raised in san francisco, i'm currently a medical student, so you know, i'm really proud that san francisco, having been born and raised here, that san francisco has taken leadership to making health care accessible to everyone and achieve health equity. so, we talk about how folks are being left out and how some people are still not going to be covered and not be able to afford health care even with the subsidies, in the exchange, a high cost city like our, but i want to challenge us for why health care is good for business and rethink what it means to be a good business and push beyond just thinking about

maximizing profits. we want to think about -- i want to think about the employer spending requirement as like an investment into the business, just as we would invest in, you know, reservations in a business, the spending requirement is an investment in the business and the workers making sure that folks are able to live and sustain themselves, increase -- studies have shown it increases worker productivity, it's good for businesses. and so it -- yes, it does increase a little bit of cost for businesses but when surveyed, employers in san francisco, a lot of them, the majority of them supported the ordinance, so i just want to help us reshape our thinking about what this means for businesses and also in terms of health care costs to the city, it's important that we still

invest in prevention and healthy san francisco, health care securing the ordinance and help us do that. >> let me read a few more names. (reading speaker names). >> hi, good afternoon, my name is nu, i am a documented, i'm here represented aspires, a group that's with the pacific islanders as well asing prehealth dreamers, a group that's wanting to become doctors and nurses, and i'm here to really continue to add to how important healthy san francisco is for the undocumented community. originally from thailand, i lived in the bay area since i was 9 years old and growing up, my family was never rely relied on going to the doctor to treat

our illnesses because we didn't think anything was out there that we would be eligible for and we lived to the best of our ability to not get sick and it was in 2007 that my mom was rushed to the emergency room after she fainted from excessive bleeding and that was when we found out she had tumors and cysts in her ovaries and you know the doctor say if we waited any longer, she could be in real danger and it was because she was uninsured and she didn't have the preventive care that would have prevented her from needing to have the surgery that she did, and healthy san francisco would have done that for her, it is doing that for thousands of undocumented families in the time it's been in existence, with the uncertainty around [inaudible] in the national

level, programs like healthy san francisco is the only option that undocumented families have, any sort of health care and as a huge step as the aca, but a lot of folks will be covered, thousands will be left over, so this is an opportunity. >> thank you for sharing your story. i hope your mom's doing better. thank you, next speaker. >> hi, good afternoon, my name is akiko, i'm a nursing student at san francisco state university, and i'm here representing the undocumented community, for the last 14 years, my family did not have access to medical care. my mother is in her 60's and though she is young at heart, her back pain is becoming more intense and her headaches are

becoming more frequent, she has been taking medication like she's drinking water. i pleaded her to go to the doctor but her answers remain the same, she says, if i die, you can sell all my jewelry and my possessions so you can bury me without a debt but if i go to the hospital, i will bury you in debt. i was afraid to get sick because i know my family can't afford it, in high school, i hurt my knee playing soccer, for two month, i was limping baring the pain, i was always asked why i didn't see the doctor, i would smile and say, it didn't hurt that much anyway. it will heal all by itself, i didn't realize the impact it will have on my knee and i had to stop playing soccer and stray away from extraneous physical activity. at the time, i wasn't a san

francisco resident, but if i was, i wouldn't have been so scared to access health care services because regardless of my immigration status, health sf would afford me preventative care, my mother's a cna who cared for older population, i'm a nursing student, we are not able to care for ourselves due to lack of resources available to us, with the creation of healthy sf, families like mine are able to live healthier lives, while the government undocumented families from buying coverage on health care exchanges. >> thank you, thank you very much. again, i would ask you to refrain from the actual applause, you can do hand gestures, next speaker. >> good afternoon, my name is alissa messer and i'm president of aft 2121 which represents the state college of san francisco, i'm also vice-president of political affairs for the san francisco labor college, at city college

of san francisco, we have about 1600 faculty these days and about half of those are part time, half of those have access through city college of san francisco to benefit, others access healthy san francisco now because they don't make enough and there are some of those who would fall through the cracks if we didn't have healthy san francisco. one of the unintended consequences of the aca is the fact that employers are going to appear to be driving down hours for many workers so that they don't need to provide insurance and that's something that is happening all over the country to part time adjunct contingent faculty members all over the country. there are teachers, professors who are not getting the same number of classes or the same number of hours. we're already seeing health care access diminished as city college of san francisco for our part time faculty and we ask that you defend healthy san francisco so that there will be some place for them to go and

so that there will be some place for the thousands of others who need to have access through healthy san francisco and won't get it otherwise. thank you. >> i have a few more names. (speaker names being called). >> next speaker, please. er >> good afternoon, supervisors, my name is olivia fang, i am the founder and executive director to have latino breast cancer act si, a small non-profit organization based here in san francisco. through our organization, we use this low-income uninsured weekend to access breast cancer screening services including follow up, diagnostic care without cost and without barrier, many of the women who have come to our program have lost tha*ir insurance as their employers have cutback their

hours, these women rely on programs like ours, i too rely on healthy san francisco for preventative care and prescriptions as i do not have health insurance because i cannot afford health insurance, i don't qualify for health insurance because i am considered to be at risk, i am a breast cancer survivor, when the affordable care act is fully implemented, that doesn't mean that folks of me like the [inaudible] it is very lieb likely that we won't be able to afford to buy insurance through the marketplace. my husband has not worked steadily since the 2009-2010 financial crash. for us, healthy san francisco has been a gosent and again, i am not quite sure that we'll be able to afford health insurance without feeling some sort of financial burden. my biggest concern however is

for those folks who are not eligible at all for health insurance because of their immigration statsz, this is inhumane, another reason why we must keep healthy san francisco in place. i wanted to make sure that you did know that i am here today not to just advocate on behalf of myself but for many that voices are seldom heard. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> hello, my name is amber, i'm the political director for the san francisco labor council, it has been in the forefront for this access of health care and the health care security ordinance, this is an issue that we have foukt over and over to protect for all of san francisco citizens, the health care security act ordinance goes beyond the aca to cover more residence, there are some employers who would like to shirk their responsibilities to the city. my husband acts as care through

the health care security order who was involved in a serious bike accident, would not have been covered throughout the aca, it included serious rehabilitation, because he had care through health care security ordinance, we were able to keep our family afloat and stay here in san francisco, we would not have been able to do that without that fund and in our continual quest to keep young families here, we need to consider that as part of the problem, so here we are yet again fighting for an equitable and just economy that respects the contributions of the people that make this city work, and i really appreciate your hearing on this issue and your leadership on this issue, we need to keep this fiekt going and the san francisco labor council will be there every step of the way. thank you very much. >> next speak e please. >> good afternoon, my name is

maureen dugan, i work in a medical surgical department, i'm speaking here today because i want the mayor and board of supervisors to understand that keeping healthy san francisco in tact is critical to the san franciscans, i see the ill pact on patients when they have to choose between paying for a needed medical test or putting food on the table for their family, unless they are sick, they choose their family first x then they end up in the emergency room. healthy san francisco has significantly improver situations like this and on behalf of my patients, we need to make improvements to healthy san francisco, not go backwards. it will span medi cal ko*rj to thousands of san franciscans but the individual mandate to purchase private health insurance will be a substitute for healthy san francisco, the plans on the exchange are expensive and have high deductibles, people forego

insurance and pay the penalty, patients will end up in the overcrowded emergency rooms where they are extremely ill and expensive to care for. healthy san francisco provides coverage for all san franciscans, not the ability to pay, i urge urge the board of supervisors to seek the regulatory changes necessary. thank you. >> thank you, i have a few more names. (calling speaker names). next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is jake, i'm 29 years old, i work as a beverage server and i've been a healthy sf, i'm acquired by law to have blood drawn, i make about 13 thousand dollars a year, use

80% of that to pay my rent and the only way to access health care is through healthy san francisco, [inaudible] without which i couldanted afford healthy san francisco. next year bh the affordable care act goes into effect, i might be eligible for medi cal, through some research, i did medi cal only covers preparationbacker prescription testosterone for delayed puberty and female memory cancer, there's no coverage for transrelated hrt. if medi cal uses the same gender classifications that private [inaudible] because they don't ko*frn gynecological care for men, many of the health care secured the ordinance because i need to pay for treatments not covered by medi cal out of pocket. the only way i can do that is

through my employer funded account, it's important to me and my community that the health care ordinance stay in tact. >> thank you very much, next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors, my name is chris wright, i'm the executive director in the association of the largest private sector employers, as we enter uncharted territory and how it interacts, it's important na city officials, employees and employers and tax payers have as much information as available, this hearing is a good step in this direction, the health coverage council is also a step in the right direction, however, i would like to bring your attention to an article earlier this week, it is referred to a letter to the editor from sibyl man, the

assembly men say that they understand the two laws are compatible and complimentary and told readers, don't take our word of the city attorney, we did, this suggests they reviewed the city attorney's legal analysis and what anyone had to do is ask for it. at least as of tuesday, they had not responded. the city attorney's written analysis has not been provided to the public. i'm surprised that this analysis who should be noted is no longer a client of the city attorney should be made available to the public. the key stakeholders has all the information to move forward as quickly as possible, the written analysis be provided to the public as part of this hearing. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, my name is

rob black, i'm here on behalf of the golden gate restaurant association, we share mayor lee's goil that implementing the affordable care act is top priority for san sa*ns and we look at participating in the health care council to ensure all workers will be able to access all health care benefits. the law has also expanded the scope of financial assistance to individuals through an expansion of medi cal, a federal subsidy of individuals that make less than 400 % of the poverty line, in addition, the law has altered what kind of health insurance products are available on the market requiring all plans to [inaudible] it is these changes that have left local employers, especially those who employ

part time workers in a quandary of how to comply with the health care act. we are looking to the city for that guidance. contrary to what you've been told, our goal is not to dismantle healthy san francisco, we want it to provide health access to individuals who are not covered under the affordable care act, however we mrao*efr it's irresponsible to encourage employee that is have an individual mandate to have full insurance under the law to accept a health plan that doesn't require plans under federal law, to get subsidized coverage and their dependents through covered california, we look forward to working through these complex issues so we can successfully implement the sca, those that fall under the safety net continue to have healthy choices in san

francisco. >> thank you. >> jim lazarus, khim beer of commerce, because there was a lot of testimony earlier, one of the solutions is going to be passage of the comprehensive immigration reform bill. the chamber has supported that from day 1 and it's clear that many of the people testifying today would obviously benefit from a pathway to citizenship. we struggle with the same issues in 2006 that we're talking about today, 2006 when we sat down with business and labor and civic and the mayor's office to develop the health care security ordinance. local mandates, competitive disadvantages, programs of access to health that are not insurance and not portable, the issues of urisa and federal constraints on what can be mandated at the local level have all confronted us as recently as two years ago with

your legislation as to the role of health reimbursement accounts. we look forward to an opportunity to work with the board of supervisors, the mayor and the public health department on seeing how this legislation can properly duck tail with the new federal mandate that will be confronting individuals in 2014 and the businesses in 2015. we believe that there is a role to working together to come up with an economically viable solution because it comes back to time and time again, what is affordable for the employee and what is affordable for the employer, how do you create jobs, it's alright if you have a higher minimum wage and it's already if you have some health insurance come framing that employer, if those costs prevent somebody else from getting employed and staying on unemployment, that's not good beer the person that's still on unloiment, that's the balance we've all struggled with and we

look forward to working with supervisor campos and the mayor. >> i do want to take this opportunity to thank mr. lazarus, mr. black, mr. wright for being here. i think it's important we try to work together and i appreciate the fact that you've been sitting here and, you know, san francisco has figured this before and that's why it was important in reference to what mr. wright said to make sure we get the city attorney on record so people have this guidance and that clarity is important and i think we got it today. >> we appreciate that. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good evening, my name is donna smith and i am a native of san francisco and resident of hunter's point bayview, it is imperative that you keep the hdso because insurance under the healthy san francisco will be crucial for helping to meet the cost of caring for the uninsured. now, speaking of the uninsured,

the san francisco insurance will allegation be affected. the healthy san francisco has definitely helped some of the families in hunter's point bayview. we do have agencies like the southeast center, the bayview medical center and we have health fairs throughout our community but we need more outreach, we need our families to know how to obtain these services in insurance, so i want to see more outreach out in hunter's point bayview, and i'm sure you are aware in my community that we have a high rate of asthma, diabetes and cancer and also trauma, a lot of trauma related issues are in hunter's point bayview and this causes a problem with our children. i am an employee with the

unified school district, and i would just like to see that the parents have more access of insurance and know the health benefits available to them because you must realize that good health is a conduit for closing this educational gap for children of color, so please keep this program going, it's very important for our community in hunter's point bayview, thank you. >> i'm going to call a few more names. (calling speaker names). >> good afternoon f, my name is johnny arengo and i've been a resident in the city for the last 15 years and i'm here in support of the healthy san francisco for the following two reasons, i work in a downtown

restaurant for more than 11 years with no medical benefits of any kind, the restaurant owner made sure i got less than 30 hours per week to be ineligible for my kind of medical benefit, my dental and vision care went from 2 thousand to 3 thousand dollars a year, my one year doctor visitors went from 1 thousand to 2 thousand dollars a year considering the fact that i haven't had major illnesses in the past year, my partner was admitted in the emergency room, the doctors said if he hadn't been taken to the emergency raoment, that his condition was worsening, he wouldn't have made it through and died in a matter of hours, he's a healthy man again and doesn't have to worry about medical bills, thanks to the benefits of healthy san francisco in emergency medical situations.

these two examples illustrate in one hand the costly effects that the elimination of healthy san francisco can have in the pockets of rest ranted workers. on the other hand, healthy san francisco is an affordable option for our workers who work less than 30 hours per week at the city post minimum wage. i want to remind you that restaurant workers are the face of san francisco in the sense that we take pride in the services we provide to rez densest and tourists by means of entertainment and pleasure. i assure you that restaurant workers are happy with the benefits of the healthy san francisco program, we will make our economy a healthy one. >> i'm going to read a couple more names. (reading