Can a City Make Employers Offer Insurance or Pay a Fee?

Published On: October 7th, 2009

As part of San Francisco’s push toward broader health-insurance coverage, city businesses with 20 or more employees must offer health insurance or pay a fee that goes toward health care for the uninsured. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court wants to know what the Obama administration thinks of that idea.

The city’s restaurant association has been fighting the ordinance in court, arguing that federal law says only the federal government can mandate employer benefits. Lower courts have gone back and forth on the issue; the Supremes earlier this year refused to issue an emergency order blocking the fees while the case is pending, the San Francisco Chronicle notes.

Obama has proposed a federal requirement that would compel many employers to offer health insurance or pay a fee, as part of the big health-care overhaul. But the administration hasn’t taken a formal position on the San Francisco suit, the Chronicle says, adding that it’s not uncommon for the Supreme Court to ask for the federal government’s position on cases that involve a conflict between federal and state or local laws.

Photo: Associated Press

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Can a City Make Employers Offer Insurance or Pay a Fee?

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2012-02-11T06:47:47Z - Reply - View Tweet
HolyWowItsWill : Chronicle was intense

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2012-02-11T06:47:42Z - Reply - View Tweet
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