Category Archives: Health

“Health Care for Homeless Individuals Fact Sheet – 2016” Shows Many Homeless People Without Diagnosis and/or Treatment

Our new fact sheet “Health Care of Homeless Individuals Fact Sheet – 2016” reports the current state of diagnosis and treatment of homeless patients for twelve chronic and other life-threatening or serious health conditions to assess whether homeless patients are receiving prompt and life-saving diagnosis or treatment and to determine what improvements are needed to ensure that they are able to receive such diagnosis and treatment.
Continue reading “Health Care for Homeless Individuals Fact Sheet – 2016” Shows Many Homeless People Without Diagnosis and/or Treatment

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 House and Senate Appropriations Committee Bills Cut $300 Million and $2 Million in Funding to Some Health Programs That Assist Homeless People and People At-Risk of Homelessness

The House bill and Senate bill for the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), that passed out of Committee propose various funding levels to provide health, mental health, substance abuse, and support services to people, including homeless people and people at-risk of homelessness, compared to the enacted FY2016 and the enacted FY2017 funding levels, the latter which was not enacted at the time the budget request was prepared, with cuts to some programs totaling $300 million in the House Committee Bill and $2 million in the Senate Committee Bill.
Continue reading The Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 House and Senate Appropriations Committee Bills Cut $300 Million and $2 Million in Funding to Some Health Programs That Assist Homeless People and People At-Risk of Homelessness

The Revised Senate Health Care Bill Would Still Likely Decrease Health Care for Hundreds of Thousands of Homeless People

The revised Senate version of the health care bill H.R. 1628, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, released on July 13 would still likely decrease health care access for the approximately 155,000 homeless adults enrolled in Medicaid since the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) expansion and for many of the 201,000 homeless adults and 70,000 homeless children enrolled in Medicaid in 2013 prior to the ACA expansion and provide decreased access to health care than is expected for many of the 312,000 homeless adults who are currently uninsured, but who likely reside in states that are expected to eventually expand Medicaid coverage as the Center on Homelessness, Health, and Employment Law and Policy’s previous blog post estimated.
Continue reading The Revised Senate Health Care Bill Would Still Likely Decrease Health Care for Hundreds of Thousands of Homeless People

The Senate Health Care Bill, H.R. 1628, Would Likely Decrease Health Care for Hundreds of Thousands of Homeless People

The Senate version of the health care bill H.R. 1628, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, released last Thursday would likely decrease health care access for homeless people currently enrolled in regular Medicaid and provide decreased access to health care than is expected for some homeless people who are currently uninsured, but who reside in states that are expected to eventually expand Medicaid coverage.
Continue reading The Senate Health Care Bill, H.R. 1628, Would Likely Decrease Health Care for Hundreds of Thousands of Homeless People

The FY2018 Budget Request Cuts Health Assistance to Homeless People and People At-Risk of Homelessness by More Than $4 Billion

The President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Budget Request for the Department of Health and Human Services proposes to cut health funding to assist homeless people and people at-risk of homelessness with health, mental health, and substance abuse treatment and prevention services by more than $4 billion compared to both the enacted FY2016 funding level and the enacted FY2017 funding level, the latter which was not enacted at the time the budget request was prepared.
Continue reading The FY2018 Budget Request Cuts Health Assistance to Homeless People and People At-Risk of Homelessness by More Than $4 Billion

Homeless Persons Were More Likely to Have Health Insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare, and Receive Critical Preventive Care and Treatment in Medicaid-expansion States

Last week, two committees in the U.S. House of Representatives passed out of the committee two health bills, jointly referred to as the American Health Care Act (AHCA), to modify the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare).  Congressional leaders plan that a third committee is going to consider the AHCA this week and that the U.S. House of Representatives is going to consider the bill on the House floor next week.
Continue reading Homeless Persons Were More Likely to Have Health Insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare, and Receive Critical Preventive Care and Treatment in Medicaid-expansion States

One-fifth of Homeless Adults Gained Medicaid Coverage from 2013 to 2015 so Congress Should Not Repeal the Medicaid Expansion

This year Congress is debating repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare).  As the ACA allowed states to expand Medicaid to cover all adults with income less than 138% of the federal poverty level and 32 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid pursuant to the Act and 14 million people have gained access to Medicaid coverage due to this expansion, an important part of the debate on repealing and replacing the ACA is Medicaid.
Continue reading One-fifth of Homeless Adults Gained Medicaid Coverage from 2013 to 2015 so Congress Should Not Repeal the Medicaid Expansion

With More Than 100 Homeless People Dying from Hypothermia and Exposure to the Cold in the Past Five Years, More Housing and Shelter is Needed

Federal, state, and local governments are not doing enough to save the lives of homeless Americans.  Homeless persons die at least 12 years earlier than other Americans, on average, and have a mortality rate four to nine times higher than those who are not homeless.  Over the past five years, thousands of homeless people have died, including an estimated 2,000 in 2013 and 2,700 in 2016.
Continue reading With More Than 100 Homeless People Dying from Hypothermia and Exposure to the Cold in the Past Five Years, More Housing and Shelter is Needed

New “Health Care of Homeless Individuals Fact Sheet – 2015” Shows Many Homeless Persons are Without Diagnosis and/or Treatment

Our new fact sheet “Health Care of Homeless Individuals Fact Sheet – 2015” reports the current state of diagnosis and treatment of homeless patients for twelve chronic and other life-threatening or serious health conditions to assess whether homeless patients are receiving prompt and life-saving diagnosis or treatment and to determine what improvements are needed to ensure that they are able to receive such diagnosis and treatment.
Continue reading New “Health Care of Homeless Individuals Fact Sheet – 2015” Shows Many Homeless Persons are Without Diagnosis and/or Treatment

House HHS Appropriations Bill Should Include $636 Million in Increased Funding for Health Centers, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Medicaid

The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill that was passed by the appropriations subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives last week and that is scheduled to be marked up in the full U.S. House appropriations committee this week provides more funding for Medicaid, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and primary health care and community health centers that should provide health care to homeless people and other low-income people, but the bill surprisingly decreases funding for mental health and for cross-cutting activities that supplement mental health, substance abuse treatment, and substance abuse prevention activities.
Continue reading House HHS Appropriations Bill Should Include $636 Million in Increased Funding for Health Centers, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Medicaid