Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan is offering to foot the bill for Medicaid enrollees who want to earn a General Education Diploma and become high school graduates.
The program began this month and is being offered to enrollees in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties, where the Medi-Cal Blue Shield Promise Health Plan operates.
The program is in keeping with the insurer’s increased focus on the social determinants of health, which experts see as crucial in keeping individuals healthy. Individuals who obtain a GED can earn on average $9,000 more a year than those who don’t graduate high school, the health plan noted in a press release.
"Lack of education we know is a social barrier to health. And it’s also an equity issue for many people that are trying to improve their lives," Jennifer Schirmer, vice president of Blue Shield Promise, told Fierce Healthcare. "By removing that barrier, we really believe that this enables members to get on a path to earning their education that leads to a higher income, which leads to improved housing. It helps eliminate food insecurity issues."
"Lack of education is really a root cause to many other social drivers of health," she said.
The Department of Health Care Services, which administers Medi-Cal in the state, approved a plan in which the insurer partners with GED Testing Service, utilizing that company’s GEDWorks initiative, a company that’s a joint venture of the American Council on Education. Members of Blue Shield Promise can register online for access to GED study materials in English and Spanish.
The average profile of people who’ve utilized GEDWorks is a woman who is about 24 years old; 58% of those who pursue a GED are women. Blue Shield hopes the program will help counter the growing trend of individuals not graduating from high school. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, the graduation rate dropped from 86% in 2022 to 83.6% in 2023, according to the press release.
The insurer doesn't anticipate that internet access will be a hindrance to the program. Blue Shield made Wellvolution, the company’s online lifestyle medicine platform, available to Medi-Cal recipients last year, and enrollees also make online visits to their physicians.
In addition, the GEDWorks advising team helps students who may need support find access to local libraries, education centers or other community resources. The health plan partners with Los Angeles County in offering guidance at 12 community resource centers currently, and plans to reach 14 centers by the end of the year, Schirmer said.
“These community resource centers provide space and availability for our members to come in and access computers, if they do not have access themselves,” she said.
Vicki Greene, president of GED Testing Service and senior vice president of Pearson’s Workforce Skills Division for the Americas, said in the press release that the GEDWorks program “is designed to meet the unique needs of working adults who aspire to earn their GED credentials, and our results show that these participants are 39% more likely to earn their diplomas than students who study on their own.”
To participate in the GEDWorks program, Blue Shield Promise enrollees must be 18 or older, must not already possess a high school diploma or equivalent, and must not be enrolled in high school.
Given that the intiative is in its infancy, Schirmer said the insurer is currently focused on spreading the word about the program.
“We are in the process of enrolling, so we don’t have numbers to share yet,” said Schirmer. “We are trying to get the message out through our community-based organization partners. We have sent informational material to our provider network.”
"We feel that this is going to really provide a difference to the members that are going to take advantage of this program," Schirmer added.