Keystone First Provides Access to Financial Counseling to Empower Medicaid Members to Build Better Lives
Health insurer to help members achieve financial wellness to attain physical wellness
September 19, 2023 - Philadelphia, Pa.
Keystone First – a Blue Cross Medical Assistance (Medicaid) plan and the largest Medicaid plan in southeastern Pennsylvania – is working with a local non-profit social service organization, Clarifi, to provide access to financial counseling and education to members with the goal of helping them improve their credit, reduce debt and avoid foreclosures.
Keystone First Market President Joanne McFall said Clarifi financial counselors will meet with members at the Wellness and Opportunity Center in the city of Chester, Pa., where more than 13,000 Keystone First members reside. The Wellness and Opportunity Center was developed to help residents overcome the social, economic and environmental barriers to achieving and maintaining a healthy life. It is purposely embedded in a marginalized neighborhood to be a direct resource for the area’s residents.
The poverty rate in Chester is 28.5% which is more than double the state’s rate.
“For our members to achieve positive health outcomes, we must address the socio-economic barriers that impede our members’ progress,” McFall said. “Debt affects your quality of life.”
Financial wellness affects physical wellness, said Steve Gardner, Clarifi’s executive director. Excessive credit card debt and mortgage foreclosures can lead to stress, anxiety, depression, and high blood pressure, he added.
“We are proud to work with Keystone First to serve their members in Chester,” Gardner said. “Our mission is to empower individuals to achieve financial resilience and positively impact their communities.”
Credit card debt is a growing national problem with balances hitting $1.03 trillion in the second quarter of 2023, up 4.6 percent from $986 billion in the preceding three-month period, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data.
“We are motivated to provide Chester residents with the financial counseling and coaching to help them reduce their debt, improve their credit and avoid bankruptcies and foreclosures,” Gardner said.
Chester residents will work side-by-side with Clarifi counselors to achieve their self-set goals through the organization’s Financial Empowerment Centers (FECs). Clarifi launched the FECs in 2013 as a collaborative partnership with the City of Philadelphia. The FECs began in New York City in 2008 to serve very low-income clients by employing a case management model that promotes intensive follow-up of client activities and documentation of a set of well-defined outcomes. The FECs in New York, as well as in Philadelphia, continue to provide a vital service that focuses on the individual’s needs.
Clarifi will track and evaluate the following outcomes for members referred to them by the health plan:
- Improving credit score (minimum threshold of 35+ point change)
- Reducing debt (minimum threshold of 10% unsecured debt reduction)
- Adopting positive budgeting behavior (including payment behavior)
- Establishing income appropriate emergency savings levels
- Accessing safe banking products
- Changing Financial Capability Scores (holistic score based on several of the above outcomes as well as qualitative data around confidence with finances)
McFall said the health plan cannot ignore the impact that poverty has on the health of Medicaid members.
“To help our members to ‘graduate from Medicaid,’ we have to provide them the tools to bypass hurdles to gaining meaningful employment and stable housing,” she said. “We are confident that Clarifi can help our members better manage their personal finances.”
