Most happy with San Francisco healthcare

A survey of enrollees in Healthy San Francisco, the city’s healthcare access program for the uninsured, indicates a high rate of satisfaction.

San Francisco created a health access program in 2006 to provide affordable basic and ongoing healthcare services for its uninsured residents at participating clinics and hospitals. More than 45,000 people have enrolled in the program.

The survey, conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation, says 94 percent are at least somewhat satisfied with the program and 92 percent say they would recommend to a friend.

Forty-one percent report improvements in how well their health needs are being met compared to before the program existed while 44 percent report paying less for healthcare than before they joined the program and 32 percent say they are paying a lot less.

However, one in five in poor health or without a high school diploma report not understanding how the program works and more than a third of Spanish speakers, those without a high-school diploma or in poor health don’t understand what costs they are responsible for in the program.

The survey of 1,026 participants, enrolled in Healthy San Francisco for at least four months, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.