Homelessness In Healthcare

The United States is full of great things and even more great opportunities, but she also has her fair share of shortcomings. One of the main topics in the news today is the cost of healthcare in the United States, still spiraling out of control for many. There are a multitude of reasons for this, but one of the many is the issue of homelessness in the country. Whenever an economic recession occurs more people are added to the lists of the homeless due to job loss or foreclosure of property. Other risk factors are medical conditions, inadequate job skills, lack of education, domestic violence, addictions, and mental illness (Olivet, Paquette, Hanson, & Bassuk, 2010). As income diminishes, so do expenditures for healthcare. It does not take long for a small health problem to turn into a large health problem. When this occurs in the homeless, treatment usually starts with the emergency department of a hospital. Costs in terms of dollars and manpower occur that could be prevented if health issues had been treated earlier. Homelessness is not picky when it comes to age, race, or color.
Population
There are many different definitions of homeless being used. A person who does not have a stable, secure, night-time housing can be considered homeless. The phrase “hidden homeless” includes those that are staying with relatives, individuals …show more content…
Members of this group include those older adults who are unemployed or earn such a low wage that housing is unaffordable for them. Some include migrant workers with no special skill to be employable. They must move wherever the work is, yet cannot afford even temporary shelter. Stay-at-home wives depend upon their husbands to provide for them. If that same husband dies or divorces, these women are without marketable job skills. Substance abusers and drug addicts also have members in the older generation that are homeless because of their