San Francisco's Private Hospitals Agree To Treat Participants Of City's Universal Health Care Program

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 15 Jul 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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Many private not-for-profit hospitals in San Francisco agreed Thursday to treat participants of Healthy San Francisco, the city's universal health care program, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Under the agreement, patients will pay between zero and $250 per hospital admission, all of which will go to the Healthy San Francisco fund. The hospitals, which include California Pacific Medical Center, St. Francis Hospitals and St. Mary's Hospitals, will not receive any money.

Hospital executives said that they agreed to treat the 25,000 program participants because it is morally correct, will limit expensive emergency department visits and will increase the amount of charity care they provide in exchange for large tax breaks. Many hospitals earlier this year were criticized when the city's Department of Public Health found that private hospitals received $79 million annually in tax breaks but spent just $16 million on charity care each year.

"Lives are being changed, and our health care delivery system is being strengthened," Mayor Gavin Newsom said. Mitch Katz, director of the public health department, said that the partnership makes long-term financial sense for the hospital. "Ultimately, if everyone who's uninsured is part of Healthy San Francisco, then there is no group of unaffiliated, uninsured people anymore walking into emergency rooms," Katz said.

John Graham, director of health care studies at the Pacific Research Institute, questioned the agreement, saying, "Hospitals do not treat people for free." Graham said, "What this looks like is that they are trying to keep Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco (Board of Supervisors) happy by giving them some political support" (Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/11).

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