For Racial Health Inequality, Tomorrow is Today

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now…There is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Next week, we will pause to reflect on the work and values to which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. devoted his life. In leading the civil rights movement, he sought a more just society and a brighter future – a future that included better health and well-being.

Dr. King’s words continue to be a powerful call to action as the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored inequity in our health care system. For example, people of color have a far higher incidence of COVID hospitalizations – and sadly, as a result, higher death rates. While most Americans have access to health insurance, either privately or publicly funded, there is no question that we must do much more as a nation to address health inequities and improve health levels and health outcomes.

The reasons for health inequities are complex, and they include things like lack of access to care, cultural beliefs, and what are known as “social determinants of health” – having unstable housing, earning a low income, living in an unsafe neighborhood, or low education level. These types of issues can have a devastating effect: people with unmet social needs have a 60% higher rate of diabetes and nearly double the rate of depression.

We at Cigna have long challenged ourselves by asking what more we can do – today – to take the vigorous and positive action Dr. King spoke of. What we have learned from our work collaborating with stakeholders and our communities over more than a decade is that only by working together – as educators, community and non-profit leaders, elected officials, and partners across the health care system – can we make real progress. We believe that positive action begins with three words: Stop. Listen. Understand. We strive to take the time to listen to and truly understand the communities we serve so that we can make a meaningful difference.

The pandemic is accelerating our ongoing efforts to address health disparities. Last year, we launched our Building Equity and Equality Program – a five-year initiative to expand our efforts to support diversity, inclusion, equality, and equity for communities of color. Since then, we have created several programs to help close the gaps in health outcomes for underserved communities. For example, we launched a new health care plan targeted to minority-owned small businesses in Los Angeles, focused on addressing and improving health conditions that disproportionately impact people of color. 

Late last year, we brought our resources to bear to help people of color in three communities: South Florida, Houston, and Memphis – where collectively, one in five of our African-American and Hispanic customers live. We held 25 safe and socially-distanced events in these communities using our repurposed Cigna Health Improvement Tour buses, which in a normal year travel across the country providing free health screenings. We sought to improve engagement rates, reduce gaps in care, and importantly, prevent COVID infections. We are committed to our work – which we intend to continue, learn from, and scale even further. 

Dr. King’s unwavering commitment enabled him to push forward through tremendous adversity with purpose, fortitude, and courage. He led the way with inclusion - versus exclusion - and with optimism and hope. Only by working together with an understanding of the “fierce urgency of now” can we take steps to get to the brighter future that Dr. King imagined. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that people can’t wait for the racial inequities in our health care system to get better – they urgently need solutions today. While closing the gap on health disparities won’t be easy, with all of us pulling together, we will make a real difference.