Demographics in our country are changing dramatically, and when it comes to providing equitable services to meet the needs of a wider variety of people, health insurance needs to enhance their games. In fact, data from the 2020 US Census, released just a few months ago, show that the US non-white population has grown significantly from 34% in 2010 to 40% today.
Census data reveal that non-white population growth is driving much of the country’s population growth. Historically, many cities with a large white population are now the “minority majority.” Certain data points show a trend of continuous diversification. The population under the age of 18 has declined in the last decade, but is rapidly diversifying. Currently, non-white US residents under the age of 18 make up the majority of the category, at 53%, up 56% from 47% in 2010.
Here are four ways you can better meet the needs of a diversified country with health insurance:
Addressing health inequalities must be a top priority
Colored people have always faced great inequality in medicine. Health insurance needs to internalize this and tackle the fight against racial discrimination, from membership registration to insurance claiming and human resource development. It goes beyond simply stating the principles of company diversity, fairness and inclusiveness on the planning website.
Planning policies must be reviewed altogether to ensure that they are addressing medical inequality. Coverage and benefits also need to be scrutinized. This includes expanding coverage for non-medical purposes to address social determinants of health.
We now know that proper nutrition, housing safety and safe areas are just as important to health as clinical factors.Medicaid programs in several states Currently innovative Covering non-healthcare services allows us to measure the impact on overall health and cost savings. Commercial planning must follow the initiative of the Medicaid agencies in these states.
Medicaid Plan provides excellent templates for cultural abilities
Health insurance that specializes in servicing Medicaid people is generally Culturally competent Approach to their members. As a result, health inequalities narrow. The state Medicaid agencies have done a good job of ensuring that the plans they have contracted with can meet the needs of diverse communities.
Meeting needs includes not only the issue of providers speaking multiple languages, but also being informed and sensitive to how different cultural and ethnic groups try to use the healthcare system. increase. It means understanding the diseases that are specific to or more common to a particular population. It means being in tune with conscious or unconscious prejudice.
For example, recent immigrants come from countries with very different healthcare systems and need help navigating the US version. Medicaid’s plans are likely to have care navigators trained to work with diverse groups.
Network and contract policy changes
Health insurance requires careful examination of the internal infrastructure to ensure consistency with diversity goals. For example, provider networks need to be as diverse as possible, and if not, prioritizing the adoption of more color providers in the network.
Even with plans where color vendors are undervalued due to vendor selection and contracts, procurement policies and procedures should be reviewed as well to allow more diverse vendor pools to participate. This may include the development of new scoring criteria to give minority and female-owned companies sufficient advantage in the contract process.
Planning needs to continue to diversify leadership
Commercial planning has made progress in diversity, equity and inclusiveness, including within the ranks of leadership. But there is still a lot to do. The plan needs to continue to diversify its management team to better reflect the masses of the country. From the work we do on healthcare outreach and registration, we know that people from other countries and cultures are more involved with people with similar experience.
Our country is growing as it changes. Our healthcare system must grow and adapt to the masses. Census data for 2020 raises the urgency of building a more equitable health system. Health insurance, which puts diversity, equity and inclusion first, is in the best position for long-term growth and success.
Loida Olmeda Dunham is Vice President of Human Resources and Compliance at Healthcare Financial Inc., and Gerard A. Vitti is the Founder and CEO of a company in the Boston region.
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