SAN FRANCISCO'S UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE PROGRAM TAKES MAJOR STEP FORWARD

State awards San Francisco $73.1 million in funding to implement Health Access Program.

San Francisco, CA – Mayor Newsom announced Thursday that it had received a three-year $73.1 million award from the State Department of Health Services for the City’s Health Access Program (HAP). The funding, which was made available under the State’s Health Care Coverage Initiative, will be apportioned annually over three years. The funding will help implement the City’s innovative plan to provide universal healthcare access for San Francisco’s uninsured. Funding will be used to provide a comprehensive set of health services to HAP participants.

Mayor Newsom noted that, “San Francisco was successful in this very competitive application process because HAP directly addresses the needs of the uninsured – by better utilizing our local health care delivery system. We’re pleased that San Francisco received the entire amount that we requested.”

Supervisor Tom Ammiano said, “This day is truly a landmark in the battle to secure health care for the working men and women of San Francisco. The State has put their money where their mouth is and shown its support for our Health Access Plan. It is because of the hard work and collaboration between the Mayor’s Office, my own office, Organized Labor, and the wealth of talent at the DPH that deserves to be credited for the ongoing success of the HAP implementation process and the decidedly positive outlook for the HAP.”

First introduced by Mayor Newsom in his 2005 State of the City address, HAP is a collaboration of the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Health Plan. It focuses on prevention/primary care, streamlines eligibility systems, enhances quality monitoring and promotes the health care safety net. It will begin phased implementation in July 2007. The first phase will involve our most vulnerable, uninsured residents. Information on the Health Access Program can be obtained from www.sfhap.org.

The State’s Health Care Coverage Initiative is a component of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services five-year section 1115 Medi-Cal Hospital/Uninsured Care Demonstration approved for the State of California. Initiative funding is available from September 2007 to August 2010.