Health insurance providers to fund street doctors and clinics to serve LA's homeless population
Officials with L
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A public agency and private health insurance provider are teaming up to build a system of street doctors and clinics that will provide medical care to Los Angeles' homeless population, including routine preventive medicine, officials announced Wednesday.
The goal is for homeless residents to see primary care physicians long term, rather than sporadically through visits from resource-strapped street medicine teams that struggle to make follow-up appointments or ensure patients receive their prescriptions, said Dr. Sameer Amin, chief medical officer of L.A. Care Health Plan, a Los Angeles County agency that provides health insurance for low-income individuals.
Officials with L.A. Care Health Plan and Health Net, a U.S. health care insurance provider, said they will commit $90 million from the state over five years to the effort.
LA County is the nation’s most populous, with about 10 million people. More than 10% of all homeless people in the U.S. live in the county, according to a 2023 federal count.
