Cigna Group launched the Cigna Group Well being Fairness Impression Fund on Monday. The corporate’s basis has dedicated $9 million over three years by the fund to cut back well being disparities in native communities.

The fund will give attention to communities the place well being disparities are most prevalent, beginning with Houston, Texas, and Hartford, Connecticut. The fund will associate with native nonprofits in these communities and attain out to certified nonprofits to “determine alignment and pursue full purposes for consideration,” Suzanne Klotz, president of The Cigna Group Basis, stated in an electronic mail. This system’s first cohort can apply for grants starting from $100,000 to $250,000 for 12 or 24 months.

Cigna chosen these first two cities by a “data-driven strategy” and decided that vital well being disparities exist in these cities in comparison with different cities within the fund’s focus areas, Klotz stated.

“Connecticut, together with Hartford, whereas usually recognized for its good well being outcomes, nonetheless has one of many largest racial and ethnic disparities within the nation, with Black and Hispanic residents. Hartford residents extra more likely to forgo well being care “Houston, in the meantime, ranks among the many worst within the nation for well being disparities and outcomes, with excessive prevalence of weight problems and diabetes amongst Hispanic residents.”

In Houston, greater than 40% of Black and Hispanic residents are overweight, and 25% of Houston adults say they don’t get sufficient train. Lack of entry to well being care, transportation, and wholesome meals exacerbates these disparities. To deal with these disparities, the Cigna Group Well being Fairness Impression Fund plans to help diet schooling and entry to recent meals, and improve entry to transportation for well being visits and bodily exercise for Hispanic adults.

“Our objective for The Cigna Group Well being Fairness Impression Fund is to handle the foundation causes of well being disparities within the communities we serve,” Klotz stated. “We all know that 80 % of well being outcomes are decided by components that happen outdoors of the physician’s workplace — generally known as the social determinants of well being. These embrace fundamental wants like entry to wholesome meals, transportation and bodily exercise. In Houston, for instance, we’re targeted on lowering the prevalence of weight problems and diabetes by addressing these vital social determinants of well being.”

In Hartford, Cigna will give attention to supporting Black and Hispanic adults by increasing the supply of suppliers and community-based assets with culturally acceptable care fashions. It’ll additionally enhance entry to transportation for well being visits and bodily actions.

Klotz added that Cigna will even examine different places with vital well being disparities that want help.

A number of different insurers and well being methods have made investments to handle well being disparities. Final yr, Well being Web invested $46 million to help California’s homeless inhabitants. Kaiser Permanente has additionally dedicated $50 million to fight meals and diet insecurity between 2022 and 2030.

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