Better Policies Lead to Better Results

One of the things I hope to stress in this blog is that policies have an impact, even if one does not always realize it.  In the past, I've pointed to bad policies, usually in housing.  But this time, I'd like to point to a policy in San Francisco that has led to improved results and lower costs.

Via Ezra Klein, I read about a program designed to ensure that people with low income have access to health care, and to nip problems in the bud before they become larger (& more expensive) problems. The website for Healthy San Francisco describes the program as:

Healthy San Francisco is not insurance, but a reinvention of the San Francisco health care safety net, that will enable and encourage residents to access primary and preventive care. It provides a Medical Home and primary physician to each program participant, allowing a greater focus on preventive care, as well as specialty care, urgent and emergency care, laboratory, inpatient hospitalization, radiology, and pharmaceuticals.

Better access to preventive health care leads to fewer emergency room visits, which are much more costly to the community.