Democratic Hawaii Sen. Josh Green, MD, and emergency medicine physician, is pushing to have homelessness classified as a medical condition under state law, according to an Associated Press report published by The New York Times.
Here are four things to know.
1. Sen. Green has introduced a state bill to classify chronic homelessness as a medical condition.
2. Under Sen. Green's bill, insurance companies would have to cover treatment for the condition: housing.
3. Sen. Green proposes Hawaii redirect some of its $2 billion annual Medicaid budget to pay for housing, the Associated Press reports.
4. His reasoning, according to the report, is Hawaii could reduce Medicaid costs by dedicating some of funds to housing rather than paying for frequent visits by homeless people to emergency rooms.
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