Introduction
The city of San Francisco has a mandate to protect the overall health of all its residents. This is well presented where the city launched the Healthy San Francisco program in 2007. Through this plan, the city will be able to adequately provide for the residents’ health concerns particularly to the uninsured above 18 years old. The current number of uninsured persons currently stands at 82,000 where the individuals are of a low income and do not qualify for any other public coverage. Through this proposed plan the city will be able to ensure a healthy workforce that could instigate growth in the city’s economy. As absenteeism and sick leaves are usually seen to derail the progress of the city, this program will be able to ensure that the working population can effectively improve on their living standards. The plan will not be limited to the employment, immigration, citizenship or health status of the residents.
Regulating Healthy and Unhealthy Behavior
The city working alongside the federal government plays a major role towards eradicating unhealthy behavioral practiced by its residents. This is particularly evident where the government identifies the need for individuals to receive medical care whether they have been insured or not. Through the Healthy San Francisco program residents of the city will be able to gain access to all health care providers in the city regardless of whether they are public or private hospitals (Dvorak, 2008). This enables the city to reach out to all of the unemployed or low income earners in the area in a bid to improve health conditions of the population. As the program was previously targeted for children only, the recent inclusion of the adults ensures that the city can build a healthy population through universal health care.
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The government plays a major role in regulating healthy behavior as it provides majority of the funding required to ensure the effectiveness of this program. It is estimated that the city governments provides up to $140 million in health care costs for the residents in the country while business provide a substantial amount (Dvorak, 2008). Hereby, providing the residents with the appropriate care to alleviate the cumbersome health concerns is a major priority to the government. This is where majority of the illegal immigrants who are above the age of 18 are currently working in numerous restaurants in the city. Therefore, if their health is below the required standards it is evident that it will spread on to other members of the society (Dvorak, 2008). The mayor of the city is determined to ensure that such individuals are able to receive the highest quality of care while receiving education from medical practitioners of ways to maintain a good health.
Providing Health and Welfare of its Citizens
The city through its Healthy San Francisco program has been able to establish a balance between personal freedom and the government’s responsibility to provide health and welfare of the citizens. This is quite evident where the government has called upon individuals to enroll into the program as a means of acquiring high quality care through the available hospitals in the city. This way despite low income or total unemployment individuals will be able to receive adequate care from the available options (Knight, 2013). Though the city does not cater the cost of care for individuals served from providers outside the city, it should not be identified as neglecting the personal freedom of residents. Rather it ensures that the money spent only serves in improving the city. Through serving the numerous illegal immigrants in the city it is evident that the ideal priority of the government is ensuring good health for all residents (Knight, 2013). Hereby, denying people of their humanity and need is a practice that will not be accepted in San Francisco.
References
Dvorak, P. (2008) Firms Adjust to Health-Care Law . The Wall Street Journal, Online. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120994784372766411
Knight, H. (2013) Healthy S.F. might sicken Tea Partiers . SFGate, Online. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Healthy-S-F-might-sicken-Tea-Partiers-4929116.php
