The Report Highlights the Health Plan’s $509 Million Commitment in Support of a Healthier Los Angeles
L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly operated health plan in the country, is committed to advancing health equity, which means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. Today, the health plan released it’s 2024 Community Impact Report: Leading the Way to a Healthier L.A, featuring community stories of lives changed thanks to the $509 million spent to address the social needs that impact the health of the communities it serves. The reports features the various financial commitments L.A. Care has made over the years to ensure healthy communities across the Los Angeles County.
An estimated 50 to 80 percent of health outcomes are based on social, economic and environmental factors – these include basic needs like food, housing, education, transportation and employment. In 2000, L.A. Care’s Board of Governors established the Community Health Investment Fund (CHIF) to support community and public health. To date, CHIF has invested $138 million via 970 grants to support programs that support the social needs of under-resourced communities, which in turn improves the health of those communities.
Between 2003 and 2011, L.A. Care invested $95 million in the Healthy Kids program, which provided health coverage children before Medi-Cal expanded to include all children, regardless of immigration status. At its peak, enrollment in the program was 45,000 children.
L.A. Care has also launched the $205 million Elevating the Safety Net initiative to address a physician shortage in L.A. County that threatens the health of the most vulnerable communities. Under the initiative are several programs designed to train, recruit, and retain diverse and highly-qualified primary physicians into the county safety net, which are those clinics and practices that provide care regardless of a person’s ability to pay for services.
The health plan also invested $71 million in a network of Community Resource Centers, which are jointly operated with its plan partner Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan. The soon-to-be 14 centers provide free fitness, nutrition, health education and lifestyle classes that promote overall well-being to the communities they serve. They also connect center visitors to much-needed social services including Medi-Cal, Cal Fresh, and more.
L.A. Care and all managed care plans in California will soon be required to allocate 5 to 7.5 percent of their profits to local community activities that support Medi-Cal members. L.A. Care has been investing in the communities it serves for years. L.A. Care’s commitment to these sort of projects aligns with its dual mission – to provide access to quality care for L.A. County’s vulnerable and low-income communities and to support the safety net required to achieve that purpose.