San Francisco's bold foray into health care ready to start

[marmar]

From the SF Chronicle, via MichaelMoore.com:


June 29th, 2007 1:27 am
S.F.'s bold foray into health care ready to start

By Heather Knight / San Francisco Chronicle

As the national debate rages over how to fix the country's broken health care system -- with 2008 presidential candidates offering up their solutions and Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko" opening Friday -- San Francisco will become the first city in the country to actually try to solve the problem itself.

Starting Monday, the city will roll out Healthy San Francisco, designed to eventually provide local medical care for all 82,000 city residents who lack health insurance. Recently renamed, the initiative received unanimous Board of Supervisors approval last summer.

It will start with just a few hundred patients in Chinatown but is designed to ramp up to full citywide coverage within 18 months.

City officials know their first-of-its-kind attempt is being closely watched by other cities, counties, states and even national leaders. Mayor Gavin Newsom said he has briefed New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democratic presidential contender who famously tried and failed to get congressional approval for her own health care reforms in 1994.

"We're not overstating this," Newsom said at a press conference Wednesday, flanked by Supervisor Tom Ammiano, Department of Public Health officials and the directors of two Chinatown health care centers that are part of the initial rollout. "This is unprecedented. The idea that we're a few days away from doing something of this magnitude on such a fundamental issue ... This is big."

Under the program, crafted by Newsom and Ammiano, the city intends to begin with its existing network of public and nonprofit medical clinics and hospitals and the low-income people they already serve. Then it will be gradually opened up to all uninsured residents who don't qualify for government health care coverage programs such as Medi-Cal. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=9963

[EFerrari]

1. I hope it works. It would be nice to see a doctor!

[marmar]

2. No insurance?

n/t

[EFerrari]

3. Not for 13 years. In fact, the only time I ever had insurance

was as a student at Cal. That was great.

[marmar]

4. That's a shame.... This country's priorities are f**ked up. ....

:mad:

[Lisa]

5. Canada's medicare system started in Saskatchewan, then went nationwide ...

The politicians saw how popular it was ... and that it worked.

[Liberty Belle]

6. C'mon, recommend this one, folks! Kick!