Blue Cross & California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Partner To Educate Business Owners.

Blue Cross of California (Blue Cross) has announced a new partnership with the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (CHCC), to improve access to health coverage for business owners and their employees. Blue Cross and CHCC will combine efforts to educate Latino-owned businesses across the state about health coverage plans that will meet their business, health and financial needs. Through CHCC’s distribution channels both organizations will also work to educate business owners about health care issues facing the Latino community and the role they can play in helping to create solutions.

This partnership seeks to address the growing number of uninsured Latinos in the State, and underscores the value of health insurance, while promoting employee loyalty and satisfaction. Additionally, since studies have found that a high percentage of Latino business owners hire Latino employees, this same group of employees have grown to become the largest uninsured minority group in California. In fact, a study by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that Latinos in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 34 were less likely to have health insurance than any other age group or ethnicity.

“As our State continues to face a health care crisis, Blue Cross continues to look at avenues that address the problem with our uninsured population,” said Lenore McCall-Rodriguez, vice president of emerging markets for Blue Cross. “We are reaching out to Latino business owners in an effort to support their entrepreneurship and resilience in a challenging business environment.”

In order to promote the health of employees, business owners must promote a healthy lifestyle while running an efficient operation. If chronic health conditions or high risk factors are left untreated, the resulting health ailments result in decreased productivity and absenteeism among employees in even the smallest businesses. The lack of insurance among Latinos is of concern, because Latinos suffer disproportionately from a number of chronic diseases such as tuberculosis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and breast and cervical cancers.

“We are continually working to enhance the value and benefit that we provide to our chamber members. We know that one issue on their minds is health care and finding a balance between access to coverage, affordability and flexibility to meet their business’ unique needs,” said Julian Canete, president and chief executive officer of the CHCC. “By presenting this program with Blue Cross we can help to make health care a clearer choice for Latino business owners and their employees.”