people do not want hra's. no one says, give me an hra. they want health care. the one access to emergency rooms and all kinds of preventive health care. 30 seconds, some people have said that is $50 million sitting around, and in these hard economic times we cannot have that money sitting in accounts unused. i think that is not true. i think what's this loophole is closed, this will go into our health care system. that is going to big -- to be good for workers, consumers, and our city. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker. >> i am also with the chinese progress of the association of speaking on behalf of a worker was afraid to be here today because she is afraid of retaliation. she is a full-time worker and a mother. she said, when working people like me have medical emergencies -- [no audio] my employer has hra's, of course, but they never told us about it. i have been held the come up recently at a serious medical condition, appendicitis, that requires surgery and a week of hospital stay. likely as qualify for charity care. otherwise i do not

a few use an hra, do you allow for that to be drawn down to pay for help the san francisco are to pay for private insurance? then a series of other questions we would collect that data to really understand the scope of the problem. if it turns out that health access is not being provided, because these hra's are being restricted so that the funds are not used to buy insurance, then we will have that information. we will have a conclusion based on real data from the real world. we hear compelling examples from workers about how they're not able to access the benefits. we should bear out those examples and see how prevalent in widespread they are. if it turns out after the time of examination and study that this problem is very widespread, as you contend that is, the mayor would be supportive of a policy that does provide broader halifax's, something along the lines of permanent expenses. his only comfortable making a policy like that in opposing it on the business community of the data is there to support it or refuted. getting the data from employers and employees is very important. s

many workers who have hra's are low- to moderate-income. what happens to individuals when they run out of money because there were only accumulating up to $4,000 and are still sick? medical debt, as you are aware, is a growing problem in the united states. it accounts for 60% of all bankruptcies in the united states according to a harvard medical study. the only way these hra's will provide meaningful access to health coverage is if workers are allowed to accumulate funds in their accounts year to year. i heard this earlier. this is not an entitlement program. we have to keep in mind these workers have worked and earned these benefits. they deserve to have access to them when they need them. we urge the board move forward with this and move it to the full board. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i am an organizer with the alliance of california community empowerment and we work on issues of racial and economic justice. i appreciated your comments this morning that we have to think about the

the way to do that is they can use that hra money. supervisor campos: but you are aware that these procedures will not be covered by the $6,000 you're talking about? >> i personally do not the cost of an appendectomy. supervisor campos: i would say that before you put a proposal forward, make sure that you have a better understanding of how it impacts the daily lives of people. make sure you put it in the context of how expensive it is to get these basic procedures. because unless you do that, you know, you're talking policy without really having a deep understanding of how it applies to real people. and that is what we're trying to do. so i would urge you, please go back, do your homework, make sure that you look at cost. because that is ultimately what is going to matter to that worker, whether or not they can go and have their kid's teeth fixed, whether or not there kid gets pneumonia, that they can cover that. that is what it comes down to. it is not weather looks good on paper. it is understanding how it impacts real life. irish

my hra account average yearly usage is 33.3%. the money's not spend i have invested in my business and continue to invest in jobs. jobs are my business because these are my caregivers, and they receive payroll. the accrued monies are available to employees. i roll over the money. i also have, when someone becomes my employee in san francisco -- they receive a full package of information from my insurance company on the hra. they can purchase health insurance. they can use the money for covert. we have no limitations on what they use the money for. they also get quarterly notices. we get quarterly notices and often notify them. this is how much money you have to use -- "this is how much money you have the use." if you cannot force people to spend this money. supervisor campos, you want me to force people to take this money and use it and for a lifetime. as a business owner, you cannot carry over hundreds of thousands of dollars year after year after year. those moneys in use now to employ people, to take care of peo

we have no restrictions on the hra. we have actual insurance. second, in fairness, insurance companies don't hold on to money for 18 months after you stop paying premiums. they don't hold onto it for a day. they don't respond to me the premiums i pay for insurance money is not paid for or health care not used. it seems you're putting a burden on hra you are not putting on an insurance company or on the city itself. second of all, when people say there has been no effect of the various anti-business legislation over the years, i would point out, supervisor campos, your district is booming. you should come over to a davidchiu's district. there are several empty spaces. most restaurants in the mission are 20 employees are less. most in the financial district are 21 employees areas -- employees or more. redwood park has been closed for nine years. this is a problem for us mid- sized businesses. we cannot afford to set money aside we don't have. i hope you could look just at the one aspect, the escrow account. all of the rest of the things, businesse

hra's are not a very good way to deliver health insurance. you have identified many of the flaws, but we need a pragmatic answer. short of me being able to jump up and down and take my part- time employees to help the -- healthy san francisco and sign them up, no hra will allow me to do that. the only people i can make that preventative care, make be covered on a daily basis are my full time employees that we cover through kaiser, so i am left with this gap. i will do anything. i run around and tell them to use it. to buy health insurance. to do anything. if they had a lump sum of money, that is all they see. until they get sick, they will not use it. if you can make a mechanism which says i can sign them up, it will cost me $600 or $700 a year for the average part-time employee. i am not trying to advocate -- abdicate my responsibility. i would rather they go get a shot then be out with a week with -- out for a week with the flute -- the flu. what i need is a pragmatic approach where i can pay the bills. whether it is six months, a year, 18

everyone else, janitors, restaurant workers, room cleaners, they knew hra's existed, but had no idea how to access them and they were afraid to ask. many are afraid of retaliation. the reason they're afraid of retaliation is because they see intimidation every day, not when they're asking to have health care coverage paid for. to have people have to go, whether english or -- is or is not their first language, having to argue that is unfair to put on an employee. second, and i have had this experience myself, there are issues of medical privacy that can be violated when an employee has to go to a chart and has to try and argue about what they need and how often they need it. for anyone who has ever worked as an at-will employee, giving any impression to your employer that you may not be healthy for some reason is uncomfortable. it can be scary. i think it is important, and our union stands behind it, and our community stands behind closing this loophole and closing and now. thank you for your leadership. supervisor campos: thank you. speaker. >> good afternoon. i'm director of the off

one was meeting with many of the workers to -- whose businesses opted into --hra for health care. during the workers knowing they did not have access for funds and being told that they could not spend it on basic health care needs like dental visits, which was, to me, astounding.

. >> una hra antes la policía de san leandro había reportado a conductir que iba de forma errática y> creemos que es el mismo vehículo. no se ha revelado si el accidente fue provocado por persecución. también se investiga consumo de alcohol por había una botella en la escena, el forense revelará eso. >> la patrulla de caminos confirmó que el conductor no llevaba cinturón, no se sabe si el resto de los pasajeros lo usaba. desde oakland, regresamos al estudio. >> gracias. a partir de hoy california tinee que reducir prisioneros en la cárcel, que no significa que tendrán que liberar a presos que no cumplen su sentencia. >> desde hoy podrían venir a fresno presos desde las prisiones estatales. serán puesto primero en libertad condicional hasta que infringan la ley nuevamente, >> no es bueno para el condado pero vamos a estar preparados, empleando más... en fresno, de sherrif también y oficiales correccionales. >> no se sabe cuántos reos llegarán pero sí cuánto deben estar en prsión. >> serán devueltos a lacercelsi comenten delitos.>> los primeros 100 van a llegar a fresno. >> las autorid

commission was interested and did state it wanted to see exact numbers of the businesses using the hra accounts that are not allowing the accounts to be used for health care or severely restricting the use. we will be interested to see what the mayor comes up with in relationship to that. just wanted to state that we want to continue this discussion with all three proposals together. supervisor campos: thank you very much. is there any other member of the public who would like to speak on this item? public comment is closed. ok. no more speakers. thank you to everyone who took the time to speak on this item. i know there are very strong opinions. we appreciate you taking the time. colleagues, i want to make a couple of points. for the benefit of all the people who have been working on this matter, i wanted to read the list of organizations from threat san francisco that have come out in support of this legislation before you. i want to make sure their voices are heard. many of them could not be your today. there are dozens of organizations. these are those organizations. adolescents he

u d't hav ton ret hra inthem d avere no tet jobra em ceati evt. yo e o haveoplon tobti f ev yorigh aav farpl t lehat f hat so b gh andar noein gett de.at b no, at w nods aet d erg , w n pocy.s eate a e grlas conopo .. te openp ono . enhor o dllin and w nordducaon. din d w nca. letvi plee. et sa time vwersan'tle hearsa eith te o vners't >> gar thonstctn woers oo to g wk iestct hadwo as e ergy o w i pocy. >>ominadp, egy dug po. p er ain purs snahe dug po a fefigter? rsna firetm to use figr? creviedo se pronerto figh fs. c viis ts a pr wer to fghool fown t a over watedudge.o lwn eredge thesdogsake tooarly yoknowhat se isarly esgse ooly medi re yoopow enrt lmen isly no di th ugh mbop 7thnren can sti wit o med are noan? thh mbth sune!ti it o fineda nee plan?ith bett covage,ess st su inneanh ttove,s or th. medare ans ve y fe caer seenis . edane wells ss v yits fca sandni0% o n brd-na preriptns anll vs nden y o're n brthna dourenut ptles 's pt of ye heethca law thout so 's te toook, mpa... pof hecaaw ttok, pad ch.se t rig pla foyou. lea morat 1 00-m icar

one was meeting with many of the workers to -- whose businesses opted into --hra for health care. during the workers knowing they did not have access for funds and being told that they could not spend it on basic health care needs like dental visits, which was, to me, astounding. the comments about this being a sledgehammer way of approaching this instead of finally tuning a more nuanced piece of legislation, i will bring up a conversation we have been having extensively about increasing our exposure to litigation. unfortunately, we live under federal laws as well which limit our abilities to mandate employer-employee relationships. the purpose solution would have been mandating that employers had to spend -- had to allow their employees to spend on these basic things. and to enforce notification. these are things that increase our exposure to litigation. for many of our board members who are worried about exposing taxpayer dollars to risk, in many ways, this legislation is the only proposal that i have seen thus far the response to closing the loophole and minimizing our litigati

some of these do use hra's as a component of health care they provide. let me say we do support the hc so and healthy san francisco. we think it is a good program. there are many problems, which a been identified. we are committed to being part of the solution to those problems and finding a solution. but as we work to improve, we need to be careful of unintended consequences, consequences that could be bad for the economy, for employers, and for employees. there are currently at least two sets of proposals out there, one of which i am familiar with that we believe would mitigate the impact to the economy, and another one that we believe, the one before us today, that would have a very significant impact on the economy. at a $50 million cost to the economy, this would have the single largest impact of any measure coming forward. the $50 million that could be taken out of the economy, some of it will go into health care. much of it will remain out of the economy. it prevents businesses from hiring employees, from potentially keeping employees, given the c

. >> isay hela hra onuy aheourc iay h e len uy a whae t wonr at ens the fir st whaady'sarr at c t. was bar o arcty ts s o trh whis tehousase

ha it hra mones.enseo spend tim it menneee.se snextndeeke t iim wil be nen.l hav'te fortten iowawand avorenoa soutcarona a new hautshirro aew >> hair wored tt queion nex >>ek.or t u cauuetnex lhtni n . ttleau a lewniesgo heyle wer new taing autserma cai andy ernow ey n he t kedtag a abomaai ndrmanain. i haw bee the ht td iabo goo thang ann. haeeeoplhe are talng abouyouoo th inan wysplre y whal ou thu woun't.n w no the yare ggin w u therytoung yt.aid no andidhee in u d yt ydiscu pernall hnd a yo ndoucuerllamile hing a th yo t sdenilg momt ihe tspotght snnd itismsndom so i of ott hemti persnal csotf sitcs tho. thatmerl i a c geat tc poithnto ha you i a gt haveoieen the. sie theou binng o yvenhe sicampthgn, have bnneft o my milyut of this. mp, veft m ly f hise bnricid wre is our fe i h bi whetome. ir i wt to gheome te.achi i o wt ios ge sanhi and i satainannd thatalmn and s trauilyin and atmnndra wlye d provis cness w an trauiroty vid wh c ass ofanhe nraouny w attnti athatet,m uofd nuno ittti andat it, can hale ut.t d my ianamila is notubjeedo myit.il s thotje .

bulednd bet ga onaneywe graedut tbu badsoret theon bra cam ta und d ocrath cong bss.amnd >>gut: b d hra diwe ngt. e fnancl c sh?gu b ll s heet dediall es r ky fnc c be? hghly st l l erag on rthe be as hts aly whe t ho leagofne rd llas ahehe eonom tho llapd anwe a lingith th elegaomoda t eeapan aearsith th ga lar, sllda per tntrs la s eremplment gus plnt wha predentgubamasas othe podi selfimes aha thi reeeknt ma o heesaid diel oayes the acono hik minehe but idu ar sti o poiinhethno fingne and he t ar ptitests aroi ngnd pst ar ying lotisgrey cooratns a ngo publans. gues the arre coat aayin tis blecons.y is teshearworkg r dinain t a rica . onis an itis nrkt. yo na haepo a ccapora an pr nit. u hayo thatoppo c 4ra merinspr. ha thth mpre networt 4 an theri boom 5 merce ofet rterics an youhe hve 46 mbolion 5eoplce o ling i nicsover . ou at k hnd of e6nomy m isonpl rkin li i y haver k rertf emys coorat in ofit hen y mlionav pele areivinoatn itn porty? m on eat i an earonomy thins nnoy? i eomh n woing. >> y arelami pfit for wo g.e ls f yre cietmi p t guesor i am tblamg prit b ithet rerd es a am

iob becse re i satorec id hryei dsot he stheor vend t docra not h d s hpporng pside e oba's v t dll hram hing or pde w toy, aba way t s heten w omthengituaon s tt, to wel a iay t sen dot kn i t eua s tel stregys do kn t tax 5ore, ontry ax 5 e,millnairno tt mor opleillote aga st i llir an tvotet ainstorheobs b l lel ega be iuse wil mak i morante ast sason ble. ion't uerstbed the il ak i straorgy. steno hay re on try. oi't u stth plai t. ra. enharery ai it depeentits,emocts a pe trepuican teaarty agr s, 's teoroc a puanillieaairety andgr bi tionaes t pay ty flirrend she ofbiaxesna. tay t mo tha 50% of frhe teashofes rty,moha0%f 7eaf o ery, peoe in 7amera aeee ndoo o someingeo abon thi er a're ing n proose t p meg bohi for his i ortae g jsro t p gislion ask geoplfo twos i mtae mor t jn $milln sl n yskrgplo o p m 5%eor tore to $undll y bs p%ereatond andnsurhe couny's onomucce.at nd ur>> gg: iould le him uns omoce ad a g i bedldmetory l it wimld beoothg. a >> da: his ned goiry o w b with d h n otoryoioward wi >>ob:ut o bery hdfrd >> : fural erlorhen h hedets ck tre. danfu thel olorneound s s