Report: Lack of health care can lead to homelessness

Providing better access to health care is a key part of helping the homeless in metro Atlanta, according to a report released today by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.
The report by the nonprofit charity said health issues can serve as a path into homelessness and that health care can help a person out of homelessness. Stressing that infection, poor nutrition, mental illness, addiction and disease are problems for many people who are homeless, the report focused on the work done by several metro programs.”We don’t believe that health is the only condition that affects the homeless in Atlanta, but we do believe that we can get more people off the streets and in more appropriate potential living situations by focusing on health issues,” said Lesley Grady, vice president of the nonprofit’s community partnerships.The report notes that estimates on the number of homeless in metro Atlanta range from 12,000 to 20,000 people on any given day.

read_more: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/07/29/homeless_report.html

PUBLICLY FUNDED FAMILY PLANNING CLINICS PREVENT 1.4 MILLION UNINTENDED PREGNANCIES EACH YEAR, SAVE $4.3 BILLION IN PUBLIC FUNDS

Publicly funded family planning clinics provide contraceptive services to approximately seven million women each year. Without these services, the annual number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in the United States would be almost 50% higher. In other words, 1.4 million unintended pregnancies and 600,000 abortions are averted each year because of these services, according to a new Guttmacher Institute analysis.

Twenty percent of the pregnancies averted would occur among teenagers. In the absence of publicly funded services, there would be nearly 50% more teen pregnancies (or 290,000 more); these additional pregnancies would result in about 150,000 unplanned births and 100,000 abortions.

In addition to the clear benefits for individual women and their families in helping them avoid the pregnancies they do not want and plan the pregnancies they do, the analysis finds that these services save $4.3 billion in public funds. Nationally, for every $1.00 spent to provide services in the nationwide network of publicly funded family planning clinics, $4.02 in Medicaid expenses on births are averted.

read_more: http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2008/07/31/index.html

Health insurers restricted from dumping customers

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed a bill that bars health insurers from creating financial incentives for employees to dump customers from health plans after they become sick. The bill by South Bay Assemblyman Ted Lieu grew out of a lawsuit against Health Net, a major insurance carrier based in Woodland Hills. A judge found earlier this year that Health Net had created a bonus system that rewarded employees who rescinded health plans after claims were filed. Health Net was ordered to pay $9 million to Patsy Bates, a Gardena hairdresser whose plan was canceled while she was undergoing cancer treatment. Lieu’s bill, AB 1150, passed unanimously in the Assembly and the Senate. “Before, when Health Net did it, it just smelled bad and looked bad,” said Lieu, an El Segundo Democrat. “Now it would be a violation of state law.” After the allegations came to light, Health Net voluntarily changed its practices and turned all rescission procedures over to a third party.

read_more: http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_9966170