VITAL, a new health benefits company that will offer low deductible plans, will begin accepting applications in November to jumpstart efforts in providing health insurance to the uninsured Hispanic population.
The company’s mission, said president Al Cardenas, is to address systemic issues and disparities affecting Hispanics in the U.S. He told Fierce Healthcare in an interview that the organization worked almost two years to be compliant with the Affordable Care Act and Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and that 90% of VITAL’s plans will have no deductibles and low or no co-pays for most generic medicines.
Hispanic people are much more likely to be uninsured than other demographics, as 19% of Hispanic patients are uninsured versus just 7.2% of white people and 10.9% of Black people, analysis from KFF shows.
“There are 11 million uninsured Hispanics in America,” he said. “So, if we crack 10%, that’s a huge market. Our first goal, obviously, is to stay afloat.”
Cardenas, a former lobbyist, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to chair the Commission on Small and Minority Business Affairs, served two terms as Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, served on the boards of Fannie Mae and Capital Bank, is a current board member to Insurance Care Direct, and an advisor to Coral Gables Trust and the Latino Media Network.
Now he’s turning much of his attention toward getting VITAL off the ground, an achievement publicly announced Sept. 26 in Washington D.C. at an event with his wife and host of The View, Ana Navarro, Rep. Darren Soto and Georgia Commissioner of Insurance John King.
“With Hispanic families averaging $1,200 in savings, and a third of them not even having a banking relationship, that tells you that if they get a $5,000 hospital bill, even with the ACA, where are they going to go?” asked Cardenas. “The majority of bankruptcies coming from the Hispanic community are based on judgments from the healthcare community, whether it's private doctors or hospitals. That presents a very sad challenge.
“It’ll take a couple of years to build to the size we want to be at, but we’re financing everything from day one until we get to that breakeven point,” he added, also noting that he has met with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and that the agency is excited by VITAL’s plans.
As of Oct. 2, at least 7.8 million people have been kicked off Medicaid due to redeterminations since the end of pandemic-era protections. A significant percentage of those disenrolled members are likely Hispanic, adding to struggles already faced by the community.
Cardenas sees VITAL as a crucial way in educating small business owners of the importance in offering health plans because turnover costs are more expensive to a small employer long-term. He said many in the community come from countries where the idea of health insurance is “foreign” to the average person, so he hopes to instill a moral obligation to entrepreneurs of the importance in offering health plans.
According to the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency, more than 140 million people are denied health care in Latin America and the Caribbean today. Despite countries in the region legally recognizing the right to health care, a large number are still excluded for financial, geographic and cultural reasons, the report found.
VITAL, he said, will be a stark contrast from plans offered by major health payers because the private company won’t have shareholders to please or profit-driven margins to meet, allowing VITAL to craft health plans that better serve the Hispanic population and small business owners. VITAL will first target the 10 largest Hispanic communities in the U.S., but no geographical barriers will limit an individual’s or employer’s access to a plan.
Under VITAL’s plans, customers could pay less than $200 a month up to $700 a month, but the amount of savings people will have depends on what kinds of subsidies they are getting from Medicaid. All providers in the network speak Spanish, a stipulation that was difficult to meet but is especially important in mental health care, because Hispanics are less likely to seek personal assistance for cultural reasons, particularly if they can’t speak English, Cardenas explained.
“I'm very encouraged by the fact that there's nothing like what we're offering out there,” said Cardenas.