Alaska Center for Public Policy Newsletter #15 )
public policy for the benefit of low and moderate income families Oct/Nov 2006
In this issue...
  • One Report Card For All The Children
  • The Public Employees Retirement System Is Overfunded!
  • San Francisco's Worker Healthcare Security Ordinance

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    Greetings Colleague...

    As you may know, the Alaska Center for Public Policy is a private nonprofit organization, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization according to the IRS. This means that we rely heavily upon donations and subsidized costs for many of our needs. With that in mind, I would like to thank several additional people and organizations who have given significant contributions to ACPP during this recent period while we have expended into new downtown offices:

    • Kay Rollison, who gave an extremely generous cash donation
    • Ellen Maling of Camp Fire USA, who sold us a beautiful used conference table with matching chairs, and some other office furniture at a steeply discounted price
    • Suzanne Meunier of the American Heart Association who donated two attractive wood veneer filing cabinets
    A heartfelt thanks to you all! Without your help, we cannot work to promote public policies in Alaska that benefit low and moderate income families.


    Lawrence D. Weiss Ph.D., M.S., Executive Director

    		One Report Card For All The Children

    Philadelphia Safe and Sound describes itself as ?a nonprofit organization that transforms groundbreaking research into best practice initiatives to improve the health and well-being of children and youth in the Philadelphia region.? I am particularly intrigued with the Report Card which measures the wellbeing of all children and youth in Philly.

    Issued annually on the last day of school, this publication, considered the best of its kind in the nation, monitors 26 key indicators of childhood in Philadelphia and measures the city?s progress toward these five overall desired results that represent how all children should live:

    • Children are born healthy, thrive, and are ready for school.
    • Children and youth live in stable and supportive families.
    • Children and youth are involved in healthy behaviors and avoid high-risk behaviors.
    • Children and youth live in safe, supportive communities and environments.
    • Children and youth achieve in school and make a transition to adulthood.
    Imagine helping to build "Your Town Alaska Safe and Sound," or even "Alaska Safe and Sound."

    		The Public Employees Retirement System Is Overfunded!

    Gayle Harbo Retired after teaching mathematics in Fairbanks for 25 years. She was very good at what she did. In 1989 she was named Alaska Teacher of the Year. She is still very good at what she does, but now she is Secretary of the Alaska Retirement Management Board (ARMB). As such, she is one of nine trustees that have fiduciary responsibility for the billions of dollars of assets of the state?s retirement systems--there are seven different retirement systems!

    In a recent Alaska Retired Educators Association newsletter, Ms. Harbo wrote an excellent summary of the history and consequences of SB 141, which destroyed the pension system for Alaskan public employees. Here is a short quote from her extraordinary article:

    "Alaska is one of only four states, eight systems, which pre-funds health care. Without health care, the funding ratio for PERS is 119% and for TRS, 91%. These are important figures and speak to the only problem the Legislature should have addressed--how creating a system for new employees which retained the Defined Benefit component for the retiree?s monthly benefit, while addressing the issue of quality health care."

    		San Francisco's Worker Healthcare Security Ordinance

    In February 2006, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom created a Universal Healthcare Council to develop a plan to provide access to healthcare for San Francisco's 82,000 uninsured adults. This collaborative effort, comprised of representatives from the health, 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.

    In a report released June 2006 entitled San Francisco Health Access Program: Serving Uninsured Adults, the Universal Healthcare Council presented its recommendations for the development and implementation of the San Francisco Health Access Program (SF HAP). Shortly thereafter, Supervisor Tom Ammiano incorporated the concept of SF HAP in his Worker Healthcare Security Ordinance. The ordinance, which was passed unanimously by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on July 18, 2006, calls for implementation of SF HAP.

    SF HAP is not insurance, and will not cover services outside the San Francisco network. It will instead provide a primary "medical home" to participants, allowing a greater focus on preventive care, as well as specialty care, urgent and emergency care, mental health care, substance abuse services, laboratory, inpatient hospitalization, radiology, and pharmaceuticals.

    SF HAP will be financed through a combination of employer, individual, the City and County of San Francisco contributions, and other public sources. The City and County of San Francisco currently spend $104 million on the uninsured. This funding may be redirected toward SF HAP. (See the financial study)

    This is an extraordinary, cutting edge, local approach to the growing problem of the uninsured across the nation. Shouldn't we in Alaska be looking at bold solutions like this?


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