Proposition B opponents have recently sent out mailers and aired television commercials stating that the pension and benefits reform measure would make health care so expensive that it would be "out of reach for thousands of San Francisco families." Most prominently, the campaign has focused on increased costs for employees with one dependent. "Single parent pays $5,000 more," the television spot says. The data show that 274 city employees — less than 1 percent — would be so affected.

In an effort to clarify the issue, The Bay Citizen asked both the pro- and anti-Prop. B camps for data showing how much the three city health plans cost currently, and how much each plan would cost under Prop. B. We have also gathered data showing how many city employees currently opt for each plan. Some 27,788 city employees are enrolled in these plans.

The chart below shows what percentage of city employees is enrolled in each plan, and how much more each group would pay under Prop. B, assuming employees keep their current plans. The table under the chart further details the costs by plan and enrollment type. Scroll to the end to read about how Prop. B would affect the health care costs of retirees, teachers and court workers.

For more Prop. B facts, see our earlier chart showing how the city and its employees currently split health care costs, and how Prop. B would change those figures.

Source: Campaigns for and against Prop. B, both working with data from the city's Health Service System. The Bay Citizen worked with both camps to generate uncontested figures, and then crunched the data to determine how much the health care costs of city employees enrolled in the different plans would increase. Percents are rounded to the nearest tenth.

Effects on retirees' health care costs

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, the measure's creator, says the city's 23,979 retirees would not be affected by Prop. B, except for those enrolled in the most-expensive City Plan PPO. Those enrollees would face a likely increase if Prop. B caused a substantial number to flee the City Plan.

Adachi says that the formula for retiree contributions is specified in a separate section of the City Charter — a section not affected by Prop. B.

A spokeswoman for the city's Health Service System says that the retiree parameters in the Charter do not "protect retirees if the costs of a plan rise across the board." Plan premiums are negotiated each year with insurance companies. HSS could not provide any scenarios that would illustrate how retirees might be affected, given the complex actuarial calculations involved.

Effects on teachers and court employees

While employees of the San Francisco Unified School District, City College of San Francisco and the Superior Court may participate in the Health Service System plans, their contribution rates can differ from those of city of San Francisco employees. Data for SFUSD, CCSF and the court are not included in this analysis.

These school and court employees would not be affected by Prop. B's pension changes, since they do not participate in the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System pension plan.