Offering health insurance benefits to employees is a key step toward ensuring that they have access to health care. However, employers likely need to take additional steps to guarantee health equity, particularly for marginalized populations, one expert says.
In her article “Promoting a Culture of Equity and Inclusion in Employee Benefits” in the fourth quarter 2024 issue of Benefits Quarterly magazine, author Vikki Walton contends that taking action to improve health equity can have positive repercussions for workplace culture and business results, in addition to improving employee health.
Walton is a senior principal and healthy equity leader in the MercerWELL practice based in Chicago, Illinois.
What Is Health Equity?
In her article, Walton explains that health equity exists when everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve their highest level of health. “The concept recognizes that health disparities may exist among different populations due to various social, economic and environmental factors and that addressing the underlying causes can eliminate these disparities,” she writes.
“Multiple studies have demonstrated that certain populations face a higher prevalence of mental health challenges, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses,” Walton goes to say. Struggles these populations may face that affect their health include language and cultural barriers, low health literacy, lack of culturally competent care and affordability barriers.
Employers can play a role in removing these barriers by promoting equal access to health benefits and resources for all employees. However, Walton advises that the benefits team may need to deviate from traditional methods of providing benefits and provide a more holistic and tailored approach.
She provides the following examples for tailoring approaches:
- An employer could create a comprehensive guide for military veterans to address challenges they face. The guide could offer tailored information on health care providers, benefits, mental health resources and legal rights.
- Employers can collaborate with employee resource groups (ERGs) to identify the needs of different cohorts such as women, LGBTQ+, individuals, veteran and low-wage earners.
Best Practices for Promoting Health Equity in Benefit Programs
Employers are beginning to recognize the impact of promoting health equity, and one survey found that 12% of employers have developed a health equity strategy as part of their overarching diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy.
As employers design these strategies, Walton suggests the following six best practices for promoting health equity in benefit programs.
- Collect demographic and heath care utilization information. This data can help identify disparities and help employers tailor benefit programs to address specific needs. In addition, data can be used as a tool to measure the effectiveness of engagement and outcomes for marginalized employees.
- Conduct an inclusive benefits analysis. With such analyses, employers review and design an inclusive medical and prescription drug plan that aligns with the goal of promoting fairness and equal access to health care. The process involves assessing various cohorts that align with the organization’s priorities while reviewing the plans.
- Provide equitable access to health care providers. Employers can ensure equitable access to providers by encouraging insurers to address diversity of health care providers in their networks and to make sure that clinicians are culturally competent and trained to serve diverse populations.
- Provide benefit communications in multiple languages that is inclusive. Language barriers can inhibit employees’ understanding and access to benefit offerings. Providing multilingual and inclusive benefit communications ensures that that all employees can fully understand and utilize their benefits.
- Offer equitable family-building benefits. For example, employers can cover fertility treatments without requiring a clinical definition of infertility or provide assistance for adoption or surrogacy.
- Address social determinants of health (SDoH). SDoH are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age that impact their health outcomes. Examples include income and wealth, education, employment, housing, access to health care, social support networks and exposure to environmental hazards. Addressing SDoH can help employers remove health disparities among different employee populations such as rural workers, low-wage earners and other marginalized populations. Strategies might include providing health care navigation services and digital telehealth tools.
How Does Achieving Health Equity Impact Employers?
Walton maintains that achieving health equity offers both a value and return on investment (VOI and ROI).
Employers can realize an ROI through reduced health care costs, increased productivity and lower turnover, while the VOI includes increased employee engagement, job satisfaction and loyalty. “Offering inclusive and equitable benefits can have a significant impact on workplace culture and foster a sense of belonging among employees. It sends a powerful message that employers value and support the diverse needs and well-being of their workforce,” Walton writes.
Listen to the recent episode of Talking Benefits to learn more about employers’ role in health equity.
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