Health Care Justice

Visit the links on this page to learn more about NCH’s Health Care Justice public policy recommendations, action alerts, and research.

Issues:

Universal Health Care:
Homeless people suffer from multiple health problems at a rate far higher than the general U.S. population, yet 55 percent have no medical insurance. Once people become homeless, they have shorter life spans than housed persons, and are three or four times more likely to die prematurely due at least in part to untreated medical problems. NCH will be working with homeless and health care advocacy partners to ensure that the Obama Health Care Plan guarantees access and eliminates all financial barriers to comprehensive health services for all Americans.

Homeless Access to Recovery and Treatment:
The Homeless Access to Recovery through Treatment (HART) Act (H.R. 4129 in the 110th Congress) strengthens substance abuse and mental health services and extends their reach to persons experiencing homelessness by improving mainstream and targeted homeless programs of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Homelessness presents serious barriers to treatment for behavioral health conditions. People experiencing homelessness present complex challenges for which most mainstream providers are ill-equipped or untrained.