SF grand jury report: 'Fraud being perpetrated' by restaurants pocketing healthcare surcharges

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Today the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury released the results of an investigation named “Surcharges and Healthy San Francisco: Healthy For Whom?” In the 29-page report, the Civil Grand Jury reviewed reports from outside consultants and various city departments, media coverage and conducted its own survey of 38 San Francisco restaurants, using the information self-reported by each business. The grand jury found that a “small but growing segment of employers” is profiting by adding surcharges to the bill of every customer.

Then, by using the third-party healthy care plans instead of the other Healthy SF options (most notably the city’s), the restaurants are legally able “to reclaim the majority amount of funds intended for employee health care, thus increasing their profits even more.”

While we have no issue with restaurateurs raising menu prices to subsidize the cost of employee health care, this Jury cannot condone the unequivocal fact that a significant number of restaurant owners are benefiting financially from the addition of surcharges that are represented to customers as paying for employee health care. We, the Jury, therefore recommend that the City and County of San Francisco end the practice of allowing businesses to add surcharges to recover the cost of employer mandates. Further, the Jury recommends elimination of private reimbursement plans in favor of the City’s medical reimbursement account.

Implementation of these recommendations will provide uniformity of benefits to employees, eliminate the need for disclosure of employee medical conditions to employers, and reduce complications by employees working for more than one employer. Most importantly, these recommendations will end the fraud being perpetrated on many unwilling patrons of San Francisco restaurants every single day.

Read more: http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2012/07/19/san-francisco-civil-grand-jury-condemns-restaurants-profiting-from-healthy-sf-urges-ban-on-surcharges/