HEALTH AND A RESIDENTIAL CARE POPULATION

This article describes the health status of 234 severely mentally ill (SMI) persons residing in California's supervised residential care fac ilities in 1973. Relocated in 1983, 63.2% reported their health as goo d to excellent. Over the follow-up period 80.8% maintained their SSI b enefits, insuring them of health insurance coverage. Surprisingly the follow-up sample, believed to be at high risk of increased physical mo rbidity, compared quite favorably to low income subsamples of the Nati onal Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The SMI reported better health, a ccess to and utilization of health services. Differences were particul arly striking in the poor health category with NHIS respondents report ing poor health 3.5 times more frequently than SMI sample numbers. The se results offer some support for the contribution of health insurance benefits and supervised residential settings to positive health outco mes of this vulnerable population.