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Healthy San Francisco is a program created by the city of San Francisco that makes health care services accessible and affordable for uninsured residents. Healthy San Francisco offers a new way for San Francisco residents who do not have health insurance, to have basic and ongoing medical care.
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Our History

In February 2006, then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom created a Universal Healthcare Council to develop a plan to provide access to health care for San Francisco's uninsured adults.  This collaborative effort, comprised of representatives from the health care, business, labor, philanthropy and research communities, met for four months. The Council reviewed demographic and actuarial data, and heard from community advocates and employers to identify and quantify the needs of the uninsured.

Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Tom Ammiano
Mayor Gavin Newsom and
Supervisor Tom Ammiano		     
In June of 2006, the Council recommended to the Mayor a program of universal access to care based on the principles of an integrated health care delivery system, provision of a primary care medical home and greater focus on preventive care and comprehensive services. The program was not health insurance and was called the San Francisco Health Access Program (HAP). Shortly thereafter, Supervisor Tom Ammiano incorporated the San Francisco HAP into a new Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO), requiring large and mid-sized San Francisco employers to make health care contributions on behalf of their employees. The ordinance, which passed unanimously on July 18, 2006, was designed to work in tandem with San Francisco HAP in order to address the health needs of San Francisco’s uninsured residents and workers.

 

In April 2007, SF HAP became Healthy San Francisco. 

Unlike past City and County efforts to serve the uninsured, Healthy San Francisco is not health insurance. It will instead provide a primary medical home to participants, allowing a greater focus on preventive care, as well as a specialty care, urgent and emergency care, mental health care, substance abuse services, laboratory, inpatient hospitalization, radiology, and pharmaceuticals.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) is responsible for the overall planning, development, implementation and on-going administration of Healthy San Francisco. San Francisco Health Plan provides third-party administration services for Healthy San Francisco, including some eligibility and enrollment activities, participant billing, customer service, marketing and communications and employer relations for the City Option. For more information on the Healthy San Francisco program, go to our Reports section.