not make sense. and lastly, i just want to urge that if we do open it up again that we include those under collective bargaining agreements part time employees can also be covered by unionized employers. >> next speaker. >> employ name is mack and i am with the california alliance of retired americans, as were a couple of other speakers. and as it were the state wide organization and we have about 500,000 members, and we are a coalition, and it says alliance and that is what we are. and we are coalition of organizations. and we represent community organizations like disability action and other such community groups and we also have a number of people from unions such as myself and i was with the california federation and the teacher's education of san francisco and that is the california alliance. and although we are retired we very active in supporting active people who are still

working. because we remember what it was like and what the struggle was like and i would like to say first of all that we are talking about in closing this loophole that this is not new money. some of the speakers, have spoken, against it, and as if this were requiring new money to come from employers. and this does not talk about new money. this is talking about passing along the money which has already been mandated but simply has not been used for appropriate ated purpose and that is first, and as a retired teacher i would like to point out when i was teaching that it was in my earlier teaching years it was a real difficulty, to some of the kids in the classes and what was a supposed to do for those kids or for those kids. and balancing their needs against the kids who were being exposed to illness and under the san francisco coverage, that i don't have to deal with that as a teacher when i go into a restaurant i don't have to worry now about whether the

restaurant workers in the kitchen who are serving me are sick and came to work because they were sick because coverage san francisco means that if you are eating in a restaurant in san francisco you don't have to worry about sick people in the kitchen. i came here on muni someone coughed behind me and i didn't have to worry that they had a disease that he couldn't deal with or whatever, thank you. >> i am going to read a few more names, barry, betty, luey, tiffany ing, next speaker. >> i am a resident of the district eleven. and i want to first of all thank you supervisor campos for your excellent analysis, and suggestions of this law. and closing this loophole. i am a member of various groups and several groups including

the universal healthcare movement and the black nurse's association as well as senior groups. this loophole should be closed we have had problems and i actually produced a documentary in 2000 that saw that we were headed to the major problems because the government is not doing its job in protecting the rights and the healthcare rights and accessibility for all citizens. recently, i have looked at crisis of workers and in which here in the bay area, that do not have a healthcare system that helps the needy, the indegent have adequate care and have adequate access to care. and we must support all legislation that will address

the issues of inequity and inaccessibility and the crisis that people continue to have, who cannot afford the affordable care act, this healthy san francisco, provides a means to help those in most in need of having care and having excellent and adequate care, which all in the several counties, most of the counties surrounding san francisco are in crisis. and so thank you, keep up the good work and we must have this legislation. >> thank you. >> next speaker please. >> high name is scott, and i am a registered nurse at california pacific medical center and a member of the california nurse's association. thanks for presenting that excellent program on what has been used for healthy san

francisco. and i am actually not aware of all of those fees for the emergency department patient and we have patients that come in all of the time who are uneasy and their perception that they have to wait for healthcare and health reimbursement in order to get care in the emergency department. and we try to focus on the fact that we are taking care of patients, straight away. and they refused to have x-rays if they have what they believe is probably a infection and so therefore, because they can't afford their healthcare, they wait at home until they are very sick until they are at the point of being unconscious and no longer able to refuse their healthcare. and i am amazed at the fact that there was so much money out there that has not been used to put these people's minds at ease in order to

achieve their perception that they can come in and get the care that they need. and we would appreciate as nurses in the city that we would take care of patients that are not so sick and that they would have this healthcare and be able to afford the new programs on the affordable care act. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> and i am going to read a few more names, ken tray, mary musni, gus feldman. >> good morning, supervisors, my name is dana, and i am a leader with the san francisco organizing project which recently merged with pacific and with the inner faith action and both of the members are the pico national network and i am also a member of congregation... which helped to convince the supervisors at the outset to adopt the healthcare ordinance and we have been very interested in its roll out over the years. it has been along for seven

years and since the affordable care act five years ago, san francisco has been working on how to reconcile these two pieces of legislation how to meet the requirements of the aca and make the fullest use of its opportunities. and i served on a dph task force that considered these matters and the best part of the year, and i am pleased to note that although they could not reach con consensus that the principles that were adopted by the mayor's healthcare council include maximizing enrollment into health insurance because it is better than not having insurance, and maintaining healthy san francisco, which this legislation helps do. and also, shared responsibility. and all sectors of society which includes i imagine the employers, who are mandated under the original healthcare

security ordinance and finally, to maximize the affordable, and it must be affordable and for these reasons i support the ordinance, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> next speaker, please? >> good morning, my name is rose, and i am here on behalf of health access california and health access we have been around for 26 years advocating for everyone in california to have access to quality affordable and accessible health coverage and so first i want to start with the affordable care act and when it was passed in 2010 as the health advocacy organization and we understood the need for it especially in a state like california, that had a lot of people that did not have access to healthcare and so we are proud of the successes and 3 million people have the coverage through the medi-cal program and the millions of people that have access to the coverage because of coverage california and that being said

there is a reality that there is still an affordability issue, where there are individuals that are in between and whether it is an individual, or a families, where they don't qualify for medical, because you know they don't have the income qualifications, but yet, if they were to enroll in coverage california, the subsidies and when you afford them the opportunities, and afford healthcare, and at a comfortable rate and i think that a few speakers already had mentioned that and i have seen as an organizer, and i have met people and families and individuals that have said this, and that you know i can't afford this, and i am not, and i am just going to do the individual mandate because me and my family, can't afford this. and so, we are proud and we respect the work that san francisco has done, and in before the affordable care act in making sure that there was a healthy san francisco. but that being said, we do think that there is a continuing issue with affordability, and we, and i am

here in behalf of health act to say that we are in support of supervisor campos's legislation, and i think that one of the things that have been said, a few people mentioned that oh, well there is a need to wait, and kind of wait and see, and but, the issue is that there is a population of people that have been waiting for some time here in san francisco. >> thank you. >> 30,000 people. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors my name is connie ford and i am here representing jobs of jews a large coalition of labor and community organizations in the city as well as my employer who happens to be a new non-profit associated with the labor council and calling it sf clout and sf community labor and organizizing unifying together and i am here to say strongly that all of us have been in this room many times before about healthcare and the main

concern is having access for every single san francisco to benefit from our healthcare system and it is not that difficult, and it is not that hard. the main question here is would is going to pay for the healthcare? who will pay for it? the vast majority of employers in this city, pay way more than we are asking some smaller employers to pay, my employer pays 67 an hour for my healthcare and it is great and i appreciate it but that is what it is. and the city is asking under this system, for the large employers to pay 2.44 an hour, and the small 1.63 that is a great bargain, who is going to pay for it and who is going to pay for it is important because without it, these 26,000 people are hurting, and let me just tell you that out of a study that dph did just a couple of years ago, people in neighborhoods and in dten and

in deleven and in my neighborhood, dfive are suffering higher out comes around term death and asthma and go to the hospital more for employer visit because they don't have access and we have heard this before, close the loophole and get this thing going and health affirm aca be a better system for all of us. >> i have a few more names, maibl ladverda, alisa young, and amelia cartona. >> good morning supervisors my name is john and i am the deputy executive director of seiu local, and we represent 15,000 union members, and who work here in san francisco in non-profits and schools and special districts and courts as well as the city and county of san francisco. and we believe strongly that all people, have a fundamental right to safe and affordable healthcare and certainly, all of the work or live here in san

francisco should have coverage and we believe that was after all of the intent of the original legislation. and we believe that maintaining this loophole, with the knowledge that it works across purposes with that intent, is unconsonable and we thank you for your leadership. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> you can speak into the mic. >> [ speaking in a foreign language ]

>> i am here because the want the government to support propeople and i have a child and i am here to speak for that support. [ speaking in a foreign language ] so right now, many of us don't have full time jobs and we are working a day here or there and we are not able to afford, insurance that is available, and everything is so expensive here in san francisco. >> rent is high and we are not able to cover all of the

expenses, the food and the rent and everything that we have to pay to live here. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> i am here to ask support from our legislators because you know that the government is always okay, and you know, it does not lose money and we are here to ask for your support. >> i am here and that is all that i have to say so please help the poor people that is all that we are saying. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> a few more names, and ed donaldson, and mitchell beard, and sandra verea. >> and hello, supervisors, my

name is betty lou and i am here to represent the china town merchant association and we are requesting that you not go forward with this ordinance. we have healthcare and community benefits and the cost for small businesses also in this city is becoming unaffordable. and i myself, support universal healthcare and i think that it is important to have but we need to have a more thoughtful conversation on how we are going to pay for the healthcare in the long run, through is a lot of money that has been unspent. and i just am wondering each individual has so much money in their each individual account that is appropriate ated for them it seems to me that some people need the healthcare and some don't and how do we balance that out?

that the health people who are not using it, would they then give their funds to someone who can't? and i think that is where the big gap is that where the money, what you can do with the overage of the money, i also agree that the san francisco, the city of san francisco itself, must understand what they are doing, and with their funds and if they are just sitting in there and i was in healthy san francisco at one point and i felt that the money was not being used properly and so i went to a medical reimbursement fund and i could take that money and give it back to my business and create

more jobs. >> thank you. >> and i should probably say good noon, and i think that it is noon. >> my name is bary and i am a green party candidate for congress here in san francisco and a strong part of my platform is an improved medicare for all. and this is something that really would be a simpler and cheaper for us, i have ultimately to implement and i would hope that my good friends and former colleagues at the chamber of commerce will actually be willing to work with us to help to implement that when the aca allows us to do that in 2017. and 80 to 90 to 100 million dollars per year and that is a lot of money and that is a lot of healthcare and to have it being referred to as a cash management, question. and i find is appalling. and because it suggests, that the intent of any business owner, that is putting money

into, one of these reimbursement accounts is really not to provide healthcare, but if you know that you need to get 75 percent back, in order to remain financially viable, i think that there is a problem. and with your entire business model. and healthcare, is crucially important for this community. and we must invest in it. and i look forward to as a said, to when we can actually begin to work state wide and developing and improved medicare for all because it is far cheaper in other countries that pay, half as much. per person, and the people who live longer this really makes sense, i strongly support this ordinance, thank you. >> thank you very much. and i have a few more names, susan fan stephanie wong, duncan lay, and ben lyman.

>> i think that we can agree that the american healthcare system is very broken and the aca was a huge step forward in addressing this but it has a lot of unintended consequences so for example, a number of our members are disqualified from federal subsidies to buy health insurance in the exchange because the spouse and employees are covering dependant coverage and there is no way that they or most people for that matter could afford. now that means that working class families to make the ends meet in this increasingly expensive city can neither benefit from obama care or the federal mandate which was intended to build off of the current system of the employer based coverage in our country

and so for those committed to serving in the under served communities like me and my classmates and not having health insurance, provides subpar care and it can mean the difference between life-and-death. >> and i recently saw a patient coming into the clinic for a primary care visit when he began to have a voek in the middle of his appointment. and you don't need any training to know that this is an emergency to be taken care of in the hospital. and to go and going to the er because he was uninsured and afraid of the bills that he will face afterwards and literally risking his life. and trying to manage his stroke as best as she can in the clinic and now he is permanently paralyzed tragedies like this are happening because the buyers are forced to between life saving medical procedures and doing more harm and stopping the patientwise a crippling medical bill and so with the purpose's legislation,

we can do more, and make sure that these tragedies no longer occur, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> next speaker, please? >> hi, supervisors, my name is tiffany and i am a member of the cpa chinese association, and i was born and raised in san francisco, from district eleven, and i am from an immigrant family and i graduated from college two weeks ago. >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> and so i have the college degree in my pocket i don't have insurance because i am not covered through the college insurance and i can't sign up with my parents and even though the affordable scare act simplimented right now, i would not be able to afford it because i don't have full full-time job yet. i am working temporary job. and that is why i think and my dad is retired and my mom is the only working and so it is difficult to sign up for health insurance.

it is unaffordable and so i think that the healthcare security ordinance is important for people who are in this transitional period, trying to find permanent work. and then, it can help to protect healthy san francisco which is important for people like me. and i think that families with young adults should be able to afford health insurance too. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please? >> hello, supervisors i am tony kelley from the potrohill, in district ten where a child born in parts of district ten today, can expect to live 14 years less than a child born on russian hill today and there are many reasons that i wish that we would get to the bottom of and one of the reasons is a lack of access to healthy food and healthcare and so i am in support of the legislation that is here today that reason above all and so many of the arguments that you have heard today are attempt to revisit the passage of san francisco a number of years ago and many of

the same arguments and we can't take on this burden and that kind of thing and this is a settled issue in terms of the city of san francisco and i would urge to move forward because we have an identified funding source and we should move to making it work as well as possible and with the direction of the affordable care act we need to get it to the delivered healthcare to people and i want to mention one particular thing, and at the merchant association on tuesday, there was a rather free wheeling, three and a half minute discussion about this and in fact, one supervisor legislative staff was saying, come to this hearing and talk about the rising burden of the costs on small businesses and encourage the people to go and speak to them. and i think that is actually a fair conversation to have and i think that the members of the committee will be well served to have the discussion about the total burden on the small business of all of the burdens from the city. but, to focus on this one, and the minimum wage and coming up this fall, means that these are

two things that put the workers against the businesses if we are going to keep the debate there and if that happens and that continues in this fall, and then you have not seen the class warfare until that happens. really it should not be part of the measure or the minimum wage either because we need to do that to support the workers and talk about supporting businesses as well. thanks a lot. >> thank you. >> kevin kay wood, cathy buric and niekol green and, amber bower, and brenda baros. >> great. >> good afternoon, supervisors, thank you very much, for holding this hearing and so that we could discuss this very important and much needed legislation. and my name is gus and i am here today with the california nurse's association and i am also a res did he resident of district eight and we are patient advocates and a

critical component is assuring affordable access to quality healthcare what we have heard today is the legislation that reviewed today is that they are essentially wanting to wait and look at more review and get more information and if we do not act now, we are going to see tens of thousand ands of low income san franciscos being kicked out and left to fend for they feelselfs and as stished is extremely unaffordable. and that means that more families being muches most likely being pushed out of the city and pubt to really harsh and difficult financial situations. and we frankly as an organization of patient advocates who know the upon theser and the impacts of not having access to affordable have on health cannot, and that is why we are here to support

the legislation and urge everybody to close the loophole and make sure that all san franciscans have access to affordable healthcare. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> i live in exelcier district with my mother she and i both work for a cleaning company. and that provides service in in the hotels downtown and my mother and i as well as our co-workers, have a struggle hard to make sure that... helps us to get the affordable healthcare we need. our employers pay close to $10 an hour for healthcare that covers us and our families, that healthcare is so important to me because my mother has suffered diabetes, and if our employer did not pay for that healthcare, and her life would be in danger. my sister and her husband, both

work in a factory in the castro district and they will both be there right now, if they did not have to work. to tell you about the employers. they have been paying in to the city plan order to meet its requirements and their san francisco healthcare law. my sister and her family depend on the employers payments to take care of their healthcare bills. if no more, can get paid and close that the ten dollars an hour, and for healthcare, and my sister can do, what is supposed to do by paying into the city option, and i think that it is only a right that we stop other companies from using a loophole to short change their workers. and we don't see that problem and more people like my mother and sister are going to end up losing their healthcare and i have looked at the obama care plan for my family, if we didn't have our employer paying

money toward our healthcare there is no way that we could afford obama care and plans and still pay the rent and buy food and take the bus to work. we are... and please fix the healthcare law and please, for this loophole. >> thank you. >> i have a few more cards, tracy turk, john eller, ben lyman, margaret sagen. >> good afternoon, and thank you very much for giving us this opportunity to speak before you. my name is elizabeth young and i am a hotel, restaurant worker and i work with unite here in local two, and i actually work in a restaurant, and the busiest restaurant year after year, after year and san francisco. and it happens to be at fisherman's wharf and that is scomsxa, that employs more than 150 people and i am very happy to have my job.

and not only are we the busiest restaurant but we also have people who have been working there no for over 40 years and i know a woman who has been working there for 45 years and i have only been working there for eleven years and which means that i am a rookie and i still have a lot to learn. i would like to give you a little bit of background, and when i first came to fisherman's wharf restaurant a long long time ago. and back in the 70s. i worked at a famous unionized house and those days almost all of the restaurants were union. and at this job, i learned well how a busy restaurant could be run. and when the workers are respected and valued and also learned that the respect that we received derived from the union contract and we were workers from all over the world and i met my first chinese person and i worked with my first chinese person from main