San Francisco Sightseeing Articles

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted collectively to make the city the nation's first to give all residents with health care, approving a plan that will give adults access to medical services regardless of their immigration or employment status.

Financed by home government, obligatory contributions from employers and income-adjusted premiums, the universal care plan will cover the cost of all from checkups, prescription drugs and X-rays to ambulance rides, blood tests and operations.

The plan, approved Tuesday, will not pay for any services participants seek outside San Francisco. Instead, residents will obtain care at existing clinics and public hospitals and from doctors who previously participate in an HMO for low- and middle-income clients.

To offset the predictable annual price tag of $200 million (euro159.6 million), firms with 20 or more workers will be required to spend $1.06 (euro.85) for each hour worked by an employee, and those with more than 100 workers will have to pay $1.60 (euro1.28) per hour up to a monthly maximum of $180 (euro143.64) per worker. Companies that already offer health coverage will still have to pay if their insurance contributions did not meet the city's funding levels.

The Board of Supervisors still desires to vote on the plan once more for it to become final