Legal News

Universal health care attempt in SF may face high court

By Richard Binder

San Francisco's experiment in universal health care has survived a legal hurdle with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' refusal to reconsider its September ruling, setting up an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 9, the 9th Circuit pushed aside a claim by business groups that federal law pre-empts the city's "fair share" program requiring employers citywide to provide coverage for their workers or, in the alternative, to pay a fee for city health clinics.

The court, led by Judge William Fletcher, denied en banc review to the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which had challenged San Francisco's ordinance in November 2006 after the county board of supervisors gave it unanimous approval.

But Judge Milan Smith Jr. and seven colleagues sharply critiqued the majority's decision, saying it contradicts the 4th Circuit's ruling in a similar case and flouts Congress' 35-year-old Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

San Francisco's program, the first of its kind in the nation, provides care through a network of hospitals and clinics for uninsured adults who are not covered under the Medi-Cal program for the poor or Medicare for the elderly. Funding for the program comes from employer fees, state and local taxes and patient payments.

The program requires employers to offer coverage for their workers or pay a fee to the city to support the new health program. Employers are taxed either $1.17 or $1.76 per hour per employee, depending on the profit or nonprofit status of employers. No employer is required to create an ERISA program or modify an existing ERISA program under the plan.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).