“What will be the product of our generation? What will we generate in this room and across this state for better outcomes?”

These were the questions posed to a room of more than 100 community and Blue Cross leaders at the recent Building Healthy Generations event.

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation organized the event to convene some of our state’s most prominent leaders in racial and health equity, and to meaningfully contribute to some of the most critical conversations of our time. Event speakers included:

• Dana Erickson, Foundation board member and President and CEO of Blue Cross
• Bukata Hayes, Foundation board chair and chief equity officer and vice president of racial and health equity at Blue Cross
• Nathan Chomilo, medical director for Minnesota’s Medicaid and MinnesotaCare programs
• Sameerah Bilal-Roby, founder and director of the African American Babies Coalition
• Antony Stately, president of the Native American Community Clinic

Left to right: Bukata Hayes, Dana Erickson, Dr. Antony Stately, Dr. Nathan Chomilo, Sameerah Bilal-Roby and Carolyn Link. 

Our commitment to racial and health equity

The Foundation’s commitment to racial and health equity is the cornerstone of our work – something that Dana Erickson emphasized in her remarks:

“At the Foundation, and in the Blue Cross company, we are deeply committed to ensuring that everyone has what they need to live their healthiest life. For that to be realized, it means needing to work upstream on issues and inequities that contribute to health, so we can address root causes long before the need for medical care.”

For the Foundation, that means dedicating time and resources to three key social drivers of health where we have strong partners, momentum, and history. We focus on increasing access to health insurance coverage and quality healthcare; improving access to quality early childhood care and education; and increasing social connections and reducing social isolation.

We believe that by focusing on these drivers of health, we help build healthy generations, so that families, young people, and elders can achieve their healthiest lives.

Key takeaways from Building Healthy Generations

The event created space for critical conversations around health, inequitable access to care, and racial justice.

Reimagining “generation”
In Bukata Hayes’ keynote, he touched on the realities of racial and health inequities throughout Minnesota. He shared that despite Minnesota being hailed as one of the healthiest states, we are also home to some of the worst racial and health inequities in the country.

He also challenged attendees to think about what healthy generations could mean in a different context – that in addition to thinking of generations as a group of people moving through life, we should think of a generation as a product of something. He reminded us that historical generation has led us to where we are today – a state with deep inequities and inaccessible systems. And he challenged everyone to think about what the product of our generation will be, and how we will generate better outcomes going forward.

Navigating a complex system
Healthcare coverage is vital to the health of our state. For approximately one in four Minnesotans, that coverage is acquired through the state’s healthcare programs, Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare. Starting this past summer, Minnesotans who are enrolled in these programs must renew their coverage for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

As Dr. Nathan Chomilo shared, looking at enrollment data through a lens of racial and health equity, you find that 40% of Black Minnesotans, 60% of Black Minnesota children and 80% of Black mothers and birthing persons get their healthcare coverage through state healthcare programs.

Uninsured people are far more likely than those with insurance to delay healthcare or go without it entirely – the effects of which can be devastating. That’s why working together to maintain and increase healthcare coverage across Minnesota is essential and benefits the health of everyone. And as Bukata Hayes said, we don't want folks to figure out they don't have coverage when they most need it.

Dr. Chomilo also highlighted the critical role of navigators in the renewal process. Navigators are trained experts at local, trusted community organizations who are certified by MNsure to assist people with enrollment and renewals. They are members of the communities they serve, and know the different barriers, challenges, opportunities, and strengths of their own communities. Their efforts have been shown to boost enrollment by offering culturally responsive support, such as translation and interpretation services.

Leading with intention and collaboration
Dr. Antony Stately highlighted the importance of focusing on communities who have been the most marginalized. “When we do a good job of taking care of the people at the so-called ‘bottom rung,’ everybody benefits from that work. When we take better care of our Black and Indigenous people – the people in our communities who are the most disenfranchised, who have the least – everybody benefits.”

Sameerah Bilal-Roby reminded attendees of the importance of supporting each other as we work in community, saying that we’re all in this together and that “the work of everybody is to think as family, and to be kind with each other – because we need it and because the work is so hard.”

The power of showing up and partnering together
It’s difficult to pinpoint just one noteworthy takeaway from Building Healthy Generations, but a comment that continues to resonate was shared by Dr. Chomilo as the event was concluding. He reminded us that all the work to advance racial and health equity is interconnected. He said that we can't address health equity without addressing racial equity, and we can't address racial equity without engaging with community and being led by community. And engaging with community requires that we show up.

I am proud of the work that the Foundation has done to advance racial and health equity, and how we will continue to show up in community and support the incredible work of our grantee partners.

Learn more

Watch the Building Healthy Generations event here.
Learn more about the work of the Blue Cross Foundation.
Read more about redetermination and the work of navigators.