杨贵妃传媒視頻

Helping聽homeless Medi-Cal patients afford聽shelter could curb their frequent emergency room visits and save California millions of dollars a year, state housing and health care advocates say.

California lawmakers are considering a to devote an additional $90 million in state housing money over five years to subsidize rent for homeless Medi-Cal patients. That money would pay for all or part of the monthly rent for about 1,500 people at any given time during those years, say supporters of the bill.

鈥淲e know it鈥檚 the right thing to do to improve the health of this population, while also saving public costs,鈥� says Sharon Rapport, associate director for California policy for the Corporation for Supportive Housing, which lobbies for affordable housing and finances development projects. The national non-profit is a co-sponsor of the bill.

Homeless people have trouble staying healthy for many reasons, including poor diet and sleep, advocates say. What鈥檚 more, people without homes often can鈥檛 safely store medications or get to doctor鈥檚 appointments.

But when homeless people find stable shelter, they can focus on getting well instead of focusing on survival, said Rapport.

homeless people are frequent users of emergency departments and have longer inpatient stays at the hospital. Other sheltering them can reduce public health and other spending on social services.

It鈥檚 a phenomenon emergency physicians know all too well.

Dr. Aimee Moulin, an emergency physician with UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, said emergency doctors may treat homeless patients again and again but their power to improve the patients鈥� health is limited when they don鈥檛 have other basic needs met.

鈥淚f someone came in with a wound that required wound care, I don鈥檛 have reasonable expectation that they can do that if they don鈥檛 have housing,鈥� said Moulin, president-elect of the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, which supported a similar measure last year. In some cases, Moulin said, she鈥檒l admit patients to the hospital if she doubts they鈥檒l be able to get the follow-up care they need.

鈥淚f you can start to address some of the underlying needs of patients, then you can actually make a better impact鈥� on their health, Moulin said.

California has over approximately 29,178 individuals as of 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The housing funds would bolster a new to . Since Medi-Cal cannot be used to directly help patients pay for housing, the bill鈥檚 funds would be used instead to subsidize their聽rent payments.

Using state housing money to house homeless patients would not only pay for itself by reducing hospital billing to Medi-Cal but would save the program an additional $6 million to 12 million a year, according to the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

The proposal has no registered opposition, but its biggest obstacle may be winning approval from Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.

Last year, Brown called a similar legislative proposal 鈥渓audable鈥� but vetoed it, saying proponents needed to work through his administration鈥檚 budget negotiation process. This year, advocates are working through both houses of the Legislature so the proposal will be included in upcoming budget negotiations.

Lawmakers are next expected to consider the bill at a May 26 Assembly Appropriations committee hearing.

This story was produced by , which publishes , an editorially independent service of the .