San Francisco health care mandate delayed

SAN FRANCISCO--San Francisco's citywide play-or-pay health care ordinance, which was slated to be implemented this summer, has been pushed back until Jan. 1, 2008.

The change, proposed by Supervisor Tom Ammiano and approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, means that employers that do not provide health care coverage to workers will not be required to begin paying the required fees until 2008, according to a spokesman for San Francisco Health Access.

The ordinance, which was to take effect July 1, requires employers with 50 or more employees that do not offer health care benefits to pay into a fund to be used to pay for health care for the uninsured.