Restaurant Owners Ask Supreme Court to Abolish Mandatory Health Care Program

June 9, 2009

San Francisco, California - Restaurant owners asked the Supreme Court to abolish the city regulation that requires employers to pay their workers’ health care insurance, saying that this financial burden is forcing restaurateurs to close down their businesses.

In a statement, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association which represents restaurateurs said that two establishments, owned by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, went bankrupt and were forced to close down due to “expensive health care programs.”

Golden Gate Restaurant Association Director Kevin Westlye said Newsom’s decision to pass the mandatory health care program is the reason why “even his own restaurants went bankrupt.”

In 2006, the city government enacted the health care program, dubbed as “Healthy San Francisco”, that requires employers with 20 workers or more to cover the health care insurance of people they employ.

Meanwhile, Public Health Chief Mitch Katz said he was disappointed with the restaurateurs’ lawsuit which asks the Supreme Court to abolish the “Healthy San Francisco”, adding that this program covers almost two-thirds of uninsured workers in the city and has been providing health care support for thousands of people.

According to the city health care department, “Healthy San Francisco” covers heath insurance of more than 41,000 workers.