through covered california, the h health care exchange, they depend on healthy san francisco for their health care. that includes tens of thousands of san francisco resident, 10 thousand more that work in san francisco but do not live in san francisco, san francisco has been a huge success, all it takes to perceive for the future is to get the obama administration to recognize that it's a unique program and make some regulatory allowances unique for its design, this should not be controversial, healthy san francisco has a [inaudible] for healthy care reform and our national representative ares at the forefront of making the aca as strong as they could, but during this, we will ensure the health of san francisco remain

a model for others to follow and doesn't allow us to enroll backwards. some people currently receive coverage through healthy san francisco will require for medi cal care and many will not, we estimate 3 to 4 million californians will remain uninsured even after the aca is fully implemented at the same time public hospitals will face cuts and dsh payment and the alignment fund, employers payment under health care sans fra*ns will be crucial. thank you, sir. >> thank you, sir, i'm going to read a few more names and i apologize if i mispronounce your name. (calling speaker names).

go ahead. >> good afternoon, everyone, i just want to start out by appreciating supervisor campos for calling this hearing to highlight how important san francisco health care security ordinance is for all of us and also thank the health care advocates whose presence is strongly felt here today. as an author of san francisco's health care security ordinance, assembly member am yan noe is committed to ensures that workers who are enreceiving health care continue to receive coverage through the affordable care abing. we know that healthy san francisco has served as a model for health care reform nationally, as this transition happens, we know hou,backer thousands of workers will receive limited or no action under obama care, now that health care is a mandate, it's important that employers contribute to helping their workers in paying health insurance. when healthy san francisco is

drafted, the employer spending requirement in san francisco's health care security ordinance was always meant to help workers access what would otherwise be unaffordable health care and nothing about obama care changes this reality. we can't allow healthy -- health care security ordinance to be undermined by a few businesses that are trying to avoid their responsibilities, to workers, the patrons and the workers of san francisco, our office looks forward to working alongside of all of those to benefit from the ordinance and that it serves our community, thank you. >> thank you very much, next speaker. >> supervisors, thank you, ian lewis, hotel and restaurant workers local 2, i want to address renewed attack we saw in the paper recently in the spending requirements, it's really easy to get lost in all the jargon and all the technical discussion about

health care, but this is not a complicated issue. it's quite straightforward. for the past 89 years, the golden gate restaurants association and other business groups have done everything they could be to undermine san francisco's security ordinance, they sued the city, they gouged customers with phony surcharges, they exploited a loophole that let them keep most of the money that bewere obligated to provide for their benefits and now they're beating the drum again to have another go at it. obama care does many good things but it was not designed as supervisor campos said earlier, it was not designed for high cost cities like our own. if you are a typical restaurant worker in the city making $14 an hour and an out rao*efrp worker contacts you to go to the covered california web sited, you're going to look there and you're going to find that a basic plan costs 200 dollars a month and that's before you have to go and get

care and pay high co-pays and deductibles, last month, the median rent for a studio apartment was nearly 2 thousand dollars, if you're making $14 an hour and you're paying those kinds of rents, there's no way you're going to pay 200 dollars for a basic 730 plan in covered california unless you're exceptionally sick, you're going to go without. thank tos the health care security ordinance, however, san franciscans have another option, their employer can pay into the city option, workers can use that money to buy insurance and that's the way it is today. that's the way it should remain. >> can i ask you the wrap up your comments, please. >> sure. i just want to point out that this money grabbed by some of the city's worst bottom feeder employers is going to make people in this city sick e we have to do everything to prevent that and not let

working people get pushed out even more. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors, i'm going to do the translation, can i have a little bit more time? >> yes. you get double the time for translation. >> (speaking through translator). >> hi, my name is angela and aoem a member of chinese progressive association. after learning more about health care reform, it's good that medi cal income eligibility will be higher.

but san francisco is an expensive place and it costs so much money to live. the bar is really low, for us low-income immigrant, we come to america because we want to work hard and fight for a better life and then be able to contribute back to society. it's really hard to do that because once we go over the thing like medi cal limit, it becomes really hard and expensive to be able to buy health insurance.

even though we might get credit to buy, have insurance in the health care exchange, but it's not enough to make it actually affordable to us. mruz there's a lot of things that is not covered in the exchange like vision or dental care. health care is a maou man right, everyone should be able to get health care regardless of who you are or how much you

make. so, it's really important to protect these local laws so families can still work hard and be able to afford health care. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> hi, good afternoon, supervisors, my name is stephanie chan and i'm with the chinese progressive association and youth movement of justice organizing, in 2011, we participated in collecting over 800 surveys of community members who told us what their health needs are and what were barriers to accessing the services they need. we presented these survey findings and our recommendations to the planning and health committee and last week at the presentation for

the draft report of the health care master plan. so, our survey show that one in five residents rely on healthy san francisco for health care. one of the recommendation ins the health care services master 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 got sent 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 i