The headquarters of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and its parent, Health Care Service Corp., the nation’s fourth-largest health insurance company, are shown in this May 2018 photo.
One of the nation’s largest Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans is more than doubling its investments in housing and related support to the homeless and those who cannot afford rent as health insurers intensify their efforts to address social determinants of health.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois is investing $1 million in “housing and wraparound support services for members of Chicago’s homeless community to improve their health and reduce healthcare costs,” the plan, which is a subsidiary of Health Care Service Corp., the nation’s four largest health insurance company, said.
Though the investment is a fraction of what other health insurers like UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health’s Aetna health plan subsidiary and Anthem have made in recent years, the Illinois Blue Cross investment shows how housing is turning into a health insurer strategy to address social determinants of health.
“We know that factors outside the scope of healthcare — such as lack of access to housing, food and transportation — play a major role in a person’s ability to be healthy,” Health Care Service Corp. (HCSC) president Maurice Smith said in a statement. “They may also add to medical costs.”
Health insurers are investing in a variety of initiatives whether they be paying rent for Medicaid patients enrolled in their private health plans or partnering with a local health system to investigate the living conditions of health plan enrollees to make sure they have clean curtains free of harmful mold that could be deadly to a child with severe asthma.
Date: August 27, 2019
Source: Forbes