we shouldn't do anything to have her hsas. thanks for the question. >> i would say very quickly, i have a similar story. we put the health savings accounts in six years ago, and the first year the employees resisted it, did not like it. but over time have grown to appreciate those take care of themselves, have seen their savings accounts grow. and i too have seen what employees have exams or scanning type of tests to be done and were able to go online and literally save a couple thousands of dollars because they were able to research it themselves and it was an incentive there to do so. >> yes, mr. holtz-eakin. do you have a comic? >> i don't have the business experience, but certainly in the alternative reforms that were envisioned in the debate leading up to affordable care act, one version is to put consumers at the centerpiece of this one-fifth of the economy in the same way they have driven the other four fifths to be the strongest a comment on the planet. and then require insurers and providers to compete, and that's a v

than 100 slots under what we call our public service employment component with individuals working at hsa and the rec and park department. >> commissioner o'brien? commissioner o'brien: i would second you on running that program. a couple of questions of the people who participated, would you have any estimates. -- would you have any estimate of how many would have multiple candidates? i do not think there was a restriction that it could only be one -- only be one. >> a lot of companies us for multiple candidates very good we had about 600 businesses -- candidates. we had about 600 and businesses participate. we have some criteria we use were based on the size of the business how many you could hire, and we ended of which about 50% of the current workforce, so you could get five approved. >> maybe i got it wrong, but i will ask it again. is there a sunset for this job version to set? >> i probably was not clear. the applications are open now. the program would be with this current fiscal year. now that would be june 30, 2011. we are hoping that even with the dire budget situation policy m

supervisor mirkarimi and michelle rutherford from hsa came to provide support for the school district. we had bryant from our office who was born to make a first pass about whether or not we need space. that is not necessarily preschool. then how the ties to the current plan we are doing with regards to student assignment. they are going to provide us with some templates on an rfp and what we should look at if we were to have somebody from outside the school district to come in to look at future challenges. we are not interested in putting in dollars that we do not have into opening a new facility. >> before it is over, we will get some sort of feasibility discussion. >> we are doing preliminary conversations on what this would look like if we move forward. >> i want to go deeper into what commissioner mendoza just said and that was not part of what was said at the other meeting. it was somewhere else that you have the discussion. i want to be clear about that. president kim: the next report is from commissioner yee. commissioner yee: we overheard the action item results. one of the i

that kind of story is told over and over in hsa's. put the individual more in touch with their own spending, they will find ways to control it. it gets to keep that money in the account and roll it forward. it is a beautiful plan. we should not do anything to hamper hsa's. thanks for the question. >> i have a similar story. we put the health savings accounts in six years ago. the first year, the employees resisted and did not like it. over time, they have grown to appreciate those who take care of themselves. they have seen their accounts grow. i have seen instances where employees had exams or test being done and were able to go on line and save $2,000 because they were able to research it themselves. there was an incentive there to do so. >> douglas holtz-eakin, do you have a common? >> i do not have the business experience of these gentlemen. one person was to put consumers at the centerpiece. the-one person was to put the consumers at the centerpiece -- one version was to put the consumer at the centerpiece. >> thank you. i yield

. >> reporter: stephen spears heads up cal hsa the state agency overseeing the program intended to help california homeowners with hardships. >> just through the lifeline all of those people have been told they have nowhere to go. >> reporter: like homeowners behind on their payments or deeply underwater or can't stay in their homes and need money to relocate. >> on paper they are great programs. they look like they will help a lot of people. but in practicality i have my doubts. >> reporter: sherry powers a homeowner's advocate is skeptical about the principal reduction program which requires matching contributions by lenders. so far none have signed up. >> we are approaching this program very cautiously. we caution them you can apply for the program. but keep in mind if your serviceer is not participating you are not eligible. >> banks are still thinking about that. >> reporter: they are working to get the banks to agree to principal deductions and hopes to have some onboard very soon. the combined programs could help an estimated 100,000 californians. >> maybe i will get to keep it o

>> i think any time you allow people to accumulate money in an account like an hsa for the purpose of their expenses, it becomes a huge incentive for them to manage all of those little costs. sometimes a hidden cost can be significant. you know that when you have the money in the account and you can keep it, you have a very the incentive to manage your costs. >> thank you for the testimony. i have talked to numerous small businesses and their employees who feel like they have had the rug pulled out from under them to take care of their own health care, and they are going to have to make a huge adjustment as the law changes. i would like to see an expansion in flexibility to help these costs. >> i thank the gentleman. at this point, everyone has gone through inquiring at least once. >> [inaudible] >> i am aware. the gentleman from california will be recognized after i inquired. you currently indicated you have 45 employees, and prior to the recession, you had 54 employees. i assume like most businesses that you would like to grow your business, but under the democrats' health-care law,

that was one of the things we have with high deductible hsa plans if my employees that fit our demographicof our company and i was able to combine a plan that was best for them. with the exchanges i'm no the sure -- i'm from new jersey ere we have one of the most heavily regulated insurance in the nation. we have i believe the top three insurance premiums in the company. so i'm in the very optimistic that heavily regulated mandated insurance exchange will be a benefit to me. >> well, again, companies come on the exchange, compe for business and plus as younow we're also mandating that i think the secretary testified earlier that as of january the 1st of it yethis year, insuranc companies have to put 85% to health care. so they have to start meeting that threshold right away. so it seem it s to me that coup with the number of exchanges out there, even though there are n mandates the reason we mandate on the prevention side is because we know from all the evidence that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. we put more in the front end, it will save more on the back end. everybody