Health Payer Intelligence January 11, 2021
As the US continues to experience exacerbated social determinants of health issues, some payers are starting the year by investing in housing, food, and health equity.
Payers have started announcing partnerships and investments for 2021 that aim to address social determinants of health, particularly food scarcity, housing insecurity, and health equity.
Some experts have argued that payer funding directed towards non-profits—or payer philanthropy—does not provide solutions to social determinants of health issues. These investments highlight the problems, but do not incentivize long-term, sustainable, and scalable fixes, the argument goes.
Payers, however, have continued to make these investments due to perceived moral obligations and, at times, the ways in which supporting these services can decrease healthcare spending. Although the return on...