Photo of SF City Hall by JaGa via Wikimedia Commons. Other images are stock photos.
The City is holding onto around $240 million that should go to your healthcare. Do you know how to access it? To find out how to claim your money, head to The City’s website.
What is the Health Security Ordinance?
Back in January when we covered the viral Hazie’s Trip, we explained the health care ordinance and how it can potentially lead to exploitation:
“Every business in San Francisco has to comply with the SF Health Care Security Ordinance. Some restaurants choose to pass that cost onto customers, adding a 5% fee to the receipt that then goes toward healthcare. Well, it’s supposed to go into your account quarterly.
This money is supposed to go into a fund that employees can access for reimbursable medical expenses. Usually, there’s a third party administrator, like an online portal where people can see their balances. But Miguel alleges Hazie’s was not using a third-party administrator. Instead, and this will boggle your mind, Hazie’s has been asking employees to submit reimbursements directly to management.”
Well, this issue is coming back around because San Franciscans have a deadline of May 21st to collect their benefits, or they will be put into the city fund. And according to critics, the mayoral office is trying to do a backend deal to rob people of their healthcare.
The amount of unclaimed benefits sits about $240 million. That’s not a whole lot when it comes to a budget as big as the City and County of San Francisco, especially since its money that goes right back toward workers like bussers and dishwashers who may not have jobs that qualify for health insurance. Side note: single payer would fix soooo many things!
Sonia Sparks, who represents clients like army veteran nurse and healthcare expert Tracy Baldwin, explains: “The basics of the ordinance are great; why shouldn’t a city of 600,000 workers receive healthcare benefits no matter what kind of job they have? Servers, bussers, hosts… They all need healthcare too!” But, she says, the problem is the process that happens when money is left unclaimed.
The consequences of not having access to health care are clear, not just at the individual level - they impact the whole city. If these vulnerable folks get sick, they could very easily spread those diseases. And god forbid they end up in the ER… UCSF whistleblowers are already alleging people are suffering because of understaffed emergency rooms in The City. So it’s in everyone’s best interest for San Francisco to invest in a healthcare cost program that works.
Instead, we’re left with a disjointed system that leaves folks like Miguel vulnerable to exploitation; a system where so many people haven’t figured out how to access their own funds that we have $240 million sitting in an account withering. It’s obviously a system that needs fine-tuning. Instead, the Mayor’s office (according to critics) is just going to sit and wait for folks to fail to claim it. And then that money is going to be used to plug massive holes caused by a lack of humane prioritization at the city level.
To find out how to claim your money, head to The City’s website.
You have until May 21.
