Homeless would benefit from health care reform

The drinking wrecked his marriage. The 47-year-old lost his job as a printer, and hopped on a bus to Atlantic City, where his life's savings of $1,500 vanished in two days of drinking and gambling. While sleeping in an alley one night, he nearly lost a leg to a cut that became infected and infested with maggots. His hernia and psychiatric disorders went untreated for years as he bounced from one casino bus lounge to the next, getting rousted every hour or so. People like Rozanski, who is trying get off the street with the help of a homeless shelter detox program, have gotten scant attention in the contentious national debate over whether and how to reform the nation's health care system. Among the nearly 50 million Americans who don't have health coverage are an unknown number of homeless adults, who would become eligible for Medicaid under proposals being considered in Congress. "They deserve the same benefits as everybody else, regardless of your status in life," said Katherine Grant-Davis, president of the New Jersey Primary Care Association. Many homeless people do not seek or receive primary care, and instead turn up in hospital emergency rooms when illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes or respiratory ailments flare up. Linda Douglass, spokeswoman for the White House's Office of Health Reform, said one of the main goals of the effort is to extend coverage to low-income Americans. She said homeless people would be able to enroll at hospitals or clinics. A House bill would allow people earning up to $14,400 a year to qualify, while a Senate bill would set the limit at $16,200.