The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California on Monday rejected an appeal from the Golden Gate Restaurant Association that challenged the employer health care spending requirement included in the Healthy San Francisco universal health care access program, the San Francisco Chronicle's "City Insider" reports (Cote, "City Insider," San Francisco Chronicle, 3/9). Healthy San Francisco was approved in 2006 to provide access to health care services at city clinics and public hospitals for the city's uninsured residents. The program requires private companies with at least 20 employees and not-for-profit groups with at least 50 employees to either provide health care benefits to workers at a cost that meets minimum spending levels or help cover the cost of Healthy San Francisco.

Employers represented by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association filed a lawsuit against the city claiming that the program violated the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which pre-empts certain state and local government requirements regarding employer-sponsored benefits (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/1/08). The appeals court rejected the association's request for an 11-judge panel to review an earlier decision that found the spending requirement legal. Kevin Westlye, executive director of the association, said the group would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. "This country has a health care crisis, and it needs to address it on a national basis," he said, adding, "What we don't need is one municipality to put out its own version for an expenditure for health care."

Deputy City Attorney Vince Chhabria said an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court "would be very disappointing." He said, "As a result of this ruling from the 9th Circuit, tens of thousands of San Franciscans have become eligible for health coverage," adding, "To continue to fight now, they are fighting to take coverage away from those workers. I would hope they would stop, take a deep breath and think about it" ("City Insider," San Francisco Chronicle, 3/9).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.