Fascinating analysis piece by Thomas Elias in the Santa Maria Times. Just 5% percent of Medi-Cal patients account for 44% of the program’s spending—and a high portion of those are people with unstable housing or no housing at all.
By recognizing homelessness as a threat to health, and then acting to mitigate it by teaming housing programs with Medi-Cal, we could potentially improve the homelessness problem, improve public health, and reduce Medi-Cal cost. Pilot programs like this already exist in Oregon and Arizona, and discussions are underway about such a pilot in California.
See the article at https://santamariatimes.com/opinion/columnists/can-medi-cal-help-solve-homelessness-thomas-elias/article_8eaf4552-3889-5778-828b-6ad226a66a9f.html
