Health insurers across the U.S. are pursuing a new strategy to lower healthcare costs and bolster their profits — investing in housing, medicine and even food programs for those who can't afford it, according to Forbes.
Over the past decade, UnitedHealthcare, Anthem, Humana, and Medicare and Medicaid have increasingly committed funding toward these factors, known in the industry as the "social determinants of health."
The nation's largest insurer, UnitedHealthcare, has invested $350 million in affordable housing since 2011. Anthem has committed $380 million to affordable housing programs, and other insurers like Humana are partnering with various health organizations to target a variety of social determinants.
The sudden interest in meeting Americans' basic health needs is to reduce the number of "super utilizers," or the subset of the population that uses the healthcare system frequently, which drives up medical costs and affects insurers' bottom lines.
Insurers will still pay for the traditional office visit, necessary hospitalizations and prescription medications. However, the goal with investing in these social determinants, including paying rent for those who can't afford it, is to avoid the more expensive or unnecessary hospitalizations.
"Social determinants of health, like food security or stable housing issues, sit upstream from and weigh heavily on gaps in care," UnitedHealthcare CEO Steve Nelson told analysts on the company's first-quarter earnings call, according to Forbes. "Data from other countries and our own experience indicate social investments reduce healthcare costs, and addressing these social determinants is the next frontier in serving the whole person here in the U.S. "
Read the full article here.
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