It was a delight to hear Dr. Josh Green’s intelligent and balanced take on many of the issues facing our community. Dr. Green is decidedly NOT a typical politician. Hearing his creative ideas for evolving the status quo to more effectively benefit the people of Hawaii rather than big money interests was a breathe of fresh air.

Dr. Green’s perspective as an MD practicing in low income communities and his apparent penchant for numbers has given rise to a unique proposal that is gaining national attention: Since the cost of a homeless person’s medical needs drops by 43% by that person simply securing housing, Green suggests that housing be prescribed by doctors as a medical necessity. Doing the math, Green says the state will have a net savings as the medical costs greatly outweigh the costs to provide the housing.

As a State Senator, Dr. Green has already implemented that kind of fundamental financial shift to benefit the public by sponsoring a 1 cent per cigarette tax increase to fund local medical clinics. The program has been a great success.

When voted in to be Hawaii’s Lt. Governor Dr. Green say he’ll commit to build a consortium of Government and Not-For-Profit groups that can truly tackle our homeless problem, to the benefit of all.

Green is surely the kind of progressive voice we so desperately need in Hawaii politics, working to restore the people’s benefits to our state equation that for far too long has consistently favored corporate profits.

Watch for the video of Dr. Green’s program, which did include his answers to many questions from the audience, coming soon on Maui Causes.