Background
Evidence is limited about healthcare cost disparities associated with homelessness, particularly in recent years after major policy and resource changes affecting people experiencing homelessness occurred after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We estimated 1-year healthcare expenditures, overall and by type of service, among a representative sample of people experiencing homelessness in Toronto, Canada, in 2021 and 2022, and compared these to costs among matched housed and low-income housed individuals.
Methods
Data from individuals experiencing homelessness participating in the
Ku-gaa-gii pimitizi-win
cohort study were linked with Ontario health administrative databases. Participants (
n
= 640) were matched 1:5 by age, sex-assigned-at-birth and index month to presumed housed individuals (
n
= 3,200) and to low-income presumed housed individuals (
n
= 3,200). Groups were followed over 1 year to ascertain healthcare expenditures, overall and by healthcare type. Generalized linear models were used to assess unadjusted and adjusted mean cost ratios between groups.
Results
Average 1-year costs were $12,209 (95% CI $9,762-$14,656) among participants experiencing homelessness compared to $1,769 ($1,453-$2,085) and $1,912 ($1,510-$2,314) among housed and low-income housed individuals. Participants experiencing homelessness had nearly seven times (6.90 [95% confidence interval [CI] 5.98–7.97]) the unadjusted mean ratio (MR) of costs as compared to housed persons. After adjustment for number of comorbidities and history of healthcare for mental health and substance use disorders, participants experiencing homelessness had nearly six times (adjusted MR 5.79 [95% CI 4.13–8.12]) the expected healthcare costs of housed individuals. The two housed groups had similar costs.
Conclusions
Homelessness is associated with substantial excess healthcare costs. Programs to quickly resolve and prevent cases of homelessness are likely to better meet the health and healthcare needs of this population while being a more efficient use of public resources.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-024-11501-2.
