FAIR Health to Launch Initiative Promoting Health Insurance Literacy to Hispanic and Latinx Communities

USA - español

Initiative Supported by Grant from The New York Community Trust

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Sep 15, 2021, 10:03 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With a generous grant from The New York Community Trust (The Trust), FAIR Health, a national, independent nonprofit, will launch tomorrow an educational campaign to promote health insurance literacy among bilingual and Spanish-dominant Hispanic and Latinx communities in the New York metropolitan area. The grant is supporting the FH® Learn, Access and Understand Navigation of Choices in Healthcare (LAUNCH) Español project.

Disparities in health insurance literacy—the ability to find and evaluate information related to coverage, select the coverage best suited to one's circumstances and use the plan knowledgeably once enrolled—disproportionately affect Hispanic and Latinx communities, impairing their ability to navigate the healthcare system. Building on FAIR Health's prior grant-funded efforts to advance health insurance literacy among these communities, the FH LAUNCH Español initiative will promote FH® Consumer Classroom. This free mobile app educates users on health insurance and healthcare quality through an award-winning educational platform comprising articles, videos and a glossary, as well as key resources and interactive games to support learning. The user-friendly app also links to FAIR Health's nationally recognized FH^® Medical and Dental Cost Lookup Tools, which enable consumers to estimate the typical costs of medical and dental procedures.

Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, FH Consumer Classroom provides easy access to the educational materials also found on FAIR Health's consumer website, fairhealthconsumer.org, and is available in Spanish and English. The launch will occur just after the September 15 start of Hispanic Heritage Month.

To develop the initiative's English- and Spanish-language educational, classroom-themed campaign, FAIR Health will utilize culturally relevant messaging and diverse channels—including digital-, organizational- and community-based outreach. The campaign will target young adults, who often lack experience with health insurance when they age out of their parents' health plans, along with formerly incarcerated individuals reentering society.

Campaign messaging, which will be featured on social media ads and posts, and on promotional and educational materials, will include language like: "If learning about health insurance seems like an impossible assignment. Download this App." and "If finding dental costs requires an intensive course. Download this App."

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd said, "We thank The New York Community Trust, an early and steadfast champion of FAIR Health's consumer-facing work, for its generous support of this critically important initiative. The new grant will advance FAIR Health's efforts to reach Hispanic and Latinx communities with a culturally sensitive educational campaign in English and Spanish to advance health insurance understanding and consumer empowerment."

Irfan Hasan, Deputy Vice President for Grants at The Trust, said: "The New York Community Trust is proud to support FAIR Health's efforts to broaden health insurance literacy among Hispanic and Latinx populations, and enhance their ability to make informed decisions about their care and coverage."

About FAIR Health
FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 34 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data products—including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indices—to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care—and How to Fix It and Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.