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By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board

Although we’ve used this phrase before, 2022 was a year like no other.  We had four elections, Federal, State, and local redistricting, and the Covid pandemic entered its third year.  Still, HANC managed to have 11 monthly meetings, and we printed 12 issues of the Voice.

In January, with recall elections on the horizon, Tim Redmond provided a lesson on the history of recalls in California and Supervisor Aaron Peskin discussed his recall reform ballot measure for the June election.  Unfortunately, the measure was defeated in a low turnout election.  In February, we discussed the Mayor’s declaration of a second emergency (while the first emergency declaration was still in effect).  We also discussed other ways the Mayor’s Office has used and extended its powers.  February also saw the year’s first election, the release of UCSF’s draft EIR for its new Parnassus hospital and the Coalition for a Complete Community’s first one-day demonstration that interim uses for 730 Stanyan are both possible and popular.

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For our January meeting, we have invited Susan Solomon, who was elected to the City College Board of Trustees this past November and joined the Board in December, and Alan Wong, who was elected to the City College Board in November, 2020, and has been a Trustee since December, 2020.

We have asked them to address the following questions:  What does the City College Board do?  What are some of your plans for the coming year?  What can we as the public do to help?  and, What are the plans for the John Adams campus?

Bring your own questions for what we expect to be an interesting and informative discussion.

As this is our first (partially) in-person meeting since February, 2020, we have also set aside time for sharing and discussion.  How have you been returning from the pandemic?  What activities have you felt safe doing?  What do you still refrain from doing?  Or, feel free to steer the conversation in another direction:  What topics would you like HANC to address in the coming year?

We look forward to seeing you, whether in person or online.  Join us on January 12, and bring a friend.

By Allen Cooper, MD, Professor of Medicine, Emeritus

Medicare, created in 1965, revolutionized health care for the elderly and those with disabilities.    There has always been Republican opposition because it is “socialism.”  In 1997 what is now called Medicare Advantage paid private insurers per enrollee (capitation) for seniors who opted out of traditional Medicare, thus beginning privatization.

The Affordable Care Act established the Innovation center to new payment and service delivery models. Using this, the Trump administration created Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs). These provide capitation payments to groups of physicians and allow up to 40% for profit and administration compared to traditional Medicare’s 2-4% for administration!!! 

Private equity and insurers recruited medical groups to form DCE’s. The Biden administration rebranded the plans as Accountable Care Organizations Realizing Equity Access and Community Health (ACOREACH). Elizabeth Fowler who worked on the ACA and in the pharmaceutical industry was appointed to run this program. Her explicit goal is to privatize all of Medicare by 2030. 

When a patient’s physician becomes part of an ACOREACH capitation plan they must find a new primary care doctor who is not a member of the ACOREACH medical group if they want the flexibility of traditional Medicare. To increase profits the plans attempt to keep patient referrals in their network and minimize expense on medical care. 

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By Christin Evans, HANC Board

In the United States, private for-profit banks have evolved the products they offer and the customers they serve to maximize profits leaving significant gaps in products and services for San Francisco’s low income workers, affordable housing projects, and small businesses.  While the Bay Area has a relatively large number of community banks and credit unions, these institutions lack the scale and reach to adequately meet the needs of this vastly underserved market. 

The San Francisco Reinvestment Working Group convened by LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) earlier this year has been writing the business plan for a public bank to seek to create the foundation for a municipal bank which has a primary goal of serving its community over the interest of profits.  The Working Group, given a mandate by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors last year, has been developing a plan to use city assets currently stored in private market banks to capitalize a municipal benefit corporation or private bank within the next few years. 

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By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

This November’s election was the first held under the new Supervisor District boundaries which split the neighborhood into three Supervisorial Districts, with the North Panhandle (Fulton to Fell, Stanyan to Baker) having one precinct in Distract 1, and the remaining 3 joining four of the five “Flatland” precincts (Fell to Frederick, Stanyan to Baker) in  District 5.  The remaining Flatland precinct was moved, along with the 3 “Hill” precincts into District 8. (see map, hint, the second digit denotes the Supervisor District; precinct 9801, which is entirely west of Stanyan, was not included in the analysis).

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By Lisa Awbrey, HANC Vice-President

On Wednesday November 16, approximately 45 local community members attended an in person meeting held at the Park branch library, hosted by the Coalition for a Complete Community at 730 Stanyan (CCC). All attendees wore masks. 

The CCC’s update to the public on the development at 730 Stanyan included a timeline of events at the site over the past 5 years. In December 2017, the City negotiated the purchase of the land at 730 Stanyan for $15.5 million so that it could re-develop the parcel with the stated goal of building “100% affordable housing.” Since the purchase of the site, plans have moved in fits and starts with local residents left to wonder when construction would begin at the now vacant and blighted site; the City spends $27,000 each month to guard an empty parking lot.

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