Some statistics that surprise me. What percentage of homeless consumers have health insurance? 83%. What percentage of homeless consumers report using the emergency room for their “regular place for care”? 48%.

These were some of the market data in a new study, Toward Thriving, Understanding Health And Homelessness: California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness. The data paints a picture of significant needs and delivery system gaps in services for housing insecure consumers. This includes the fact that nearly half (48%) of homeless adults are heavy users of alcohol, regular users of illicit drugs, suffer from hallucinations, or were recently hospitalization for a mental health condition.

Beyond those behavioral conditions, the most common illnesses in this population are hypertension (high blood pressure), 30%; lung…