The San Francisco Healthcare Security Ordinance
John M. Ryan, Baybenefits, Inc
What is it, is my business affected and how do I comply?
What is it?
What is the San Francisco Healthcare Security Ordinance? (HSCO) – Here goes the short version….The ordinance is designed to assist uninsured S.F. employees with medical expenditures in the event of sickness, accident and enable preventative medical care. It was passed unanimously by the S.F. Board of Superiors and was sponsored by Tom Ammiano. The ordinance requires employers with 20+ employees to expend money for medical care. Your specific rate will be based on the # of people you employ and the # of hours worked. Businesses with 20-99 employees will be required to spend $1.17 per person per hour. If you have 100+ employees your rate will be $1.78 per hour. You are required all to cover all employees who work more than 10 hours a week and have been working for you more than 90 days. These expenditures must be made each quarter and reported to the city each year. The penalties for non-compliance are very steep and are outlined in the ordinance regulations.
If you have 20-99 employees this works out to $ 203 per month for FT employees.
If you have over 100 employees it works out to $304 for FT employees.
Important- you are required to make an expenditure for all employees who work on average 10+ hours a week.
Is my business affected?
If your company or restaurant has 20+ employees on your payroll full time or part time then YES you are required to make the expenditure beginning January 9, 2008. A careful analysis will need to be conducted to determine how you may be affected and how much your expenditure will be each month or quarter.
Info needed for the analysis:
Employee name, date of birth, date of hire, average # of hours worked each week, copies of any existing insurance medical/dental/vision insurance bills, payroll report showing employee deductions for existing insurance
Employees covered by Medicare or military/veterans insurance may be excluded. Employees covered by spouses or other medical coverage are not excluded. However it is possible but not probable that employees covered by spousal insurance may sign a waiver to relieve you of the expenditure.
What are my options to comply with the ordinance?
There is no cookie cutter solution for compliance with this ordinance. Most businesses will use a combination of several solutions. There will be administrative time and effort, coverage decisions/flexibility and cost considerations.
The fundamental questions to the business owner are
A) Do you want to provide healthcare security for your employees and in turn comply with the ordinance?
or
B) Do you just want to comply with the ordinance?
There are 4 main options:
1) Enroll eligible employees into your existing group medical/dental/vision plans. The health insurance with provide your employees with the greatest amount of financial protection and piece of mind. They will have a medical ID card and the clout that comes with it.
2) Set up a new group medical insurance program or limited benefits Mini-Med plan and enroll your uninsured full time and part time employees.
3) Set up and fund a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) for eligible employees. These are new programs that do not have an insurance element and simply allow the employee access the money the city required you pay into the account. Your employees may use the money in these accounts to pay for doctor visits, hospital charges, lab fees, pharmacy charges, dental care, etc. If your employees do not use the money in the account, the money may be returned to the business owner. You will need to hire a third party admin company to approve and pay claims.
4) Pay the money to the city of San Francisco and the city will enroll your employees into Healthy San Francisco which allows your S.F. employees to visit city run health clinics or the city will set up medical reimbursement accounts for your employees who do not live in the city.
It is important to note that this is a new ordinance and the learning curve will be steep for everyone. Please refer to the ordinance and regulations for details.
John M. Ryan is President of Baybenefits, Inc. Baybenefits designs, implements and provides ongoing employee benefit solutions for corporate clients. John is the Program Manager for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Chamber Health Advantage Membership Program(CHAMP), a Board Member and Legislative Chair for the Golden Gate Assoc. of Health Underwriters and is recognized as an authority on solutions to San Francisco HCSO.
John M. Ryan, Baybenefits, Inc
What is it, is my business affected and how do I comply?
What is it?
What is the San Francisco Healthcare Security Ordinance? (HSCO) – Here goes the short version….The ordinance is designed to assist uninsured S.F. employees with medical expenditures in the event of sickness, accident and enable preventative medical care. It was passed unanimously by the S.F. Board of Superiors and was sponsored by Tom Ammiano. The ordinance requires employers with 20+ employees to expend money for medical care. Your specific rate will be based on the # of people you employ and the # of hours worked. Businesses with 20-99 employees will be required to spend $1.17 per person per hour. If you have 100+ employees your rate will be $1.78 per hour. You are required all to cover all employees who work more than 10 hours a week and have been working for you more than 90 days. These expenditures must be made each quarter and reported to the city each year. The penalties for non-compliance are very steep and are outlined in the ordinance regulations.
If you have 20-99 employees this works out to $ 203 per month for FT employees.
If you have over 100 employees it works out to $304 for FT employees.
Important- you are required to make an expenditure for all employees who work on average 10+ hours a week.
Is my business affected?
If your company or restaurant has 20+ employees on your payroll full time or part time then YES you are required to make the expenditure beginning January 9, 2008. A careful analysis will need to be conducted to determine how you may be affected and how much your expenditure will be each month or quarter.
Info needed for the analysis:
Employee name, date of birth, date of hire, average # of hours worked each week, copies of any existing insurance medical/dental/vision insurance bills, payroll report showing employee deductions for existing insurance
Employees covered by Medicare or military/veterans insurance may be excluded. Employees covered by spouses or other medical coverage are not excluded. However it is possible but not probable that employees covered by spousal insurance may sign a waiver to relieve you of the expenditure.
What are my options to comply with the ordinance?
There is no cookie cutter solution for compliance with this ordinance. Most businesses will use a combination of several solutions. There will be administrative time and effort, coverage decisions/flexibility and cost considerations.
The fundamental questions to the business owner are
A) Do you want to provide healthcare security for your employees and in turn comply with the ordinance?
or
B) Do you just want to comply with the ordinance?
There are 4 main options:
1) Enroll eligible employees into your existing group medical/dental/vision plans. The health insurance with provide your employees with the greatest amount of financial protection and piece of mind. They will have a medical ID card and the clout that comes with it.
2) Set up a new group medical insurance program or limited benefits Mini-Med plan and enroll your uninsured full time and part time employees.
3) Set up and fund a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) for eligible employees. These are new programs that do not have an insurance element and simply allow the employee access the money the city required you pay into the account. Your employees may use the money in these accounts to pay for doctor visits, hospital charges, lab fees, pharmacy charges, dental care, etc. If your employees do not use the money in the account, the money may be returned to the business owner. You will need to hire a third party admin company to approve and pay claims.
4) Pay the money to the city of San Francisco and the city will enroll your employees into Healthy San Francisco which allows your S.F. employees to visit city run health clinics or the city will set up medical reimbursement accounts for your employees who do not live in the city.
It is important to note that this is a new ordinance and the learning curve will be steep for everyone. Please refer to the ordinance and regulations for details.
John M. Ryan is President of Baybenefits, Inc. Baybenefits designs, implements and provides ongoing employee benefit solutions for corporate clients. John is the Program Manager for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Chamber Health Advantage Membership Program(CHAMP), a Board Member and Legislative Chair for the Golden Gate Assoc. of Health Underwriters and is recognized as an authority on solutions to San Francisco HCSO.
