Health care should meet the needs of everyone—no matter who you are, where you live, or who you love. This is the work of health equity, and it’s something we take seriously at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.
Understanding What Impacts Your Health
Research shows that your health may be impacted by many things beyond medical care. These things include:
- Race and ethnicity
- Age
- Education
- Employment
- Economic status
- Sexual orientation
- Gender
- Gender identity
- Where you live
Many of these things may be outside your control. And many may be influenced by bias. Health equity works to address these impacts on your health. It also challenges the biases that have created different outcomes for different people.
Health equity won't happen overnight. The first step is to understand more about you, so we know what barriers you face. This information helps us create solutions to support you and offer you better care.
Achieving Better Health With Better Information
To understand how better information can lead to better health, let’s look at an example. Imagine you speak a language other than English. You go to a doctor who doesn’t speak your language. Without an interpreter, you may not get the best care from that doctor. By knowing your needs, we can help connect you with a doctor who speaks your language. This is a small example, but one that shows how information can start to break down barriers.
