About 30% of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. live in California. One health insurer is making a major investment to support this population.
California-based Health Net is providing $46 million in grants to help all Medi-Cal members find housing and other services, the insurer recently announced. Medi-Cal is the name for California’s Medicaid program. The organization offers coverage for 3 million people through individual and family plans, employer-sponsored insurance, Medicare and Medi-Cal. About 2.2 million of these members are in its Medi-Cal program.
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The grant money will be spread out across 26 counties in California, and will support Continuum of Care programs, which are regional or local planning bodies that help those experiencing homelessness find housing and other services.
Specifically, the funds will be used to increase partnerships and help local organizations provide referral services. This includes additional housing navigation, helping Continuum of Care programs offer permanent housing and supporting Medi-Cal redeterminations (the process for determining if someone is still eligible for Medicaid, which was put on pause during the Covid-19 public health emergency and resumed in April).
The money will also be used to improve the data exchange between Health Net and Continuum of Care programs, revamp Homeless Management Information System platforms and support workforce development initiatives. The Homeless Management Information System is a technology system that collects data on the provision of housing and services to those who are unhoused.
In addition, the grants will improve delivery services and member engagement for people experiencing homelessness. This includes street outreach services and street medicine.
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“Through these investments, Health Net is working to improve health outcomes and access to whole person care services by addressing housing insecurity and instability as a social determinant of health for the Medi-Cal population,” said Martha Santana-Chin, Medi-Cal president at Health Net, in an email.
Health Net’s investment is part of its participation in California’s Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program (HHIP), a voluntary program that offers incentive funds to Medi-Cal managed care plans that make investments in improving the homeless crisis. The program was approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2022, but Health Net’s participation in HHIP is a “continuation of investments in grants and programs to help the unsheltered that we’ve been making since 2017,” Santana-Chin said.
“Overall, we feel it’s our responsibility to the communities we serve to invest in innovative approaches to improve access to quality care and better health outcomes for Californians,” Santana-Chin said.
The $46 million investment follows a $1.5 million grant Health Net provided to Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Street Medicine program earlier this year. That grant is creating two programs that prepare street medicine workforces to care for unsheltered populations.
Health Net also teamed up with L.A. Care — another insurer — in May to commit $114 million to support the unhoused in Los Angeles County. L.A. Care allocated $80 million of the funds and Health Net allocated $34 million. The money is being used to secure up to 1,900 housing units.
Other insurers and health organizations are also making investments to support those experiencing homelessness. CVS Health has made a series of investments in affordable housing, including $10 million in Indianapolis and $14.3 million in Seattle. In 2022, UnitedHealth Group made a $100 million investment in housing.
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