Healthy San Francisco

Uninsured residents of San Francisco can enroll in a new program, called Healthy San Francisco, for access to 14 health clinics and 8 community clinics. The clinics provide medical care at no cost for residents under the federal poverty line — $10,210 for one person and $20,650 for a family of four. These clinics also emphasize preventive care and managing health conditions, reported the New York Times.

Recently the state granted the program $24 million to expand the program"s coverage. The grant will allow residents and families with incomes up to 500% of the poverty line to enroll in the program on a sliding scale.

Already the program has 1,300 San Fran residents enrolled, and officials expect that number to go to 45,000 (over half of the city"s uninsured) by the end of the year.

So will the expansion give people incentive to drop private coverage? Officials say residents won"t switch from private plans because Healthy San Francisco isn"t portable — you only have coverage in the city.