Addressing Food Insecurity Among Our Medicare Advantage Members
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, do you remember how hard it was to find all the items on your grocery list — like pasta and toilet paper? Maybe you had to stand in line to enter your local supermarket. Or you were setting 3 a.m. alarms to order groceries online.
We all experienced the stress of navigating a global health emergency and supply chain disruptions, but some of us had a harder time than others accessing basic goods.
This is a story of neighbors helping neighbors, and of health equity in action.
Responding to a Clear Need
In spring 2020, the call center at Independence Blue Cross (Independence) started receiving a lot of unusual requests from our Medicare Advantage members. They weren’t asking how to pay a bill online, or if a doctor was in our network; they were asking how they could access food.
They told us that the physical demands of grocery shopping — standing in line to enter a store, fighting with other customers over the last pack of toilet paper — were challenging for them, especially those with chronic illnesses. Even navigating online delivery services was often a struggle for some members.
We realized we had to do something to respond to their needs, and do it quickly. So we decided to launch a grocery delivery program.
In part, the goal was for our members who were most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 disease to visit the grocery store less frequently and thus reduce their exposure risk. Given the social isolation that many faced, we also wanted these members to feel cared for — almost as if someone from Independence was giving them a warm hug.
How Our Collaboration With United By Blue Began
Searching for an organization to launch this grocery delivery program with Independence, we initially contacted various national big-box stores, as well as local nonprofits. But none of them could help because their services were already in such incredible demand.
Then we noticed that United By Blue, a small business in Old City Philadelphia, had turned its storefront into a grocery store. Originally filled with sustainable-lifestyle gear and merchandise, its shelves now held things like pasta, eggs, meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, and even toilet paper!
An insurer-lifestyle gear collaboration may seem unusual, but there was something about United by Blue’s unique response to the pandemic that made us want to explore the possibility. Thankfully, they felt similarly, and a new program was launched!
How It Worked
In two years of working with United By Blue, we have delivered more than 50,000 bags of groceries to Medicare Advantage members in our service area who met certain disease state criteria.
Each bag contained a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, breads, pastries, butter, peanut butter, hummus, cookies, a face mask, toilet paper, paper towels, beans, eggs, milk, bacon, and (my personal favorite) quarts of homemade soup.
