Financial Wellness: Overcoming Barriers in Healthcare: A Community‑Driven Approach

Everyone deserves access to quality healthcare and when it comes to healthcare, insurance equals access. At PALIG, we believe that improving access to care is not only the right thing to do, it’s a solvable problem—especially when insurers and local agents work together to expand community health insurance.

To that end, consider these key barriers to healthcare access and how we can overcome them when we join forces.

Barriers that Limit Access to Care

Studies find that underserved populations often have less income and formal education than their better‑served counterparts. They’re more likely to live in remote rural areas and more likely to face these common barriers to healthcare:

Cultural Barriers

Latin America and the Caribbean are richly diverse—and overall, that’s a good thing. However, such cultural diversity must be addressed by insurers and providers in order to make health services fully inclusive to all.

Insurance Literacy

Yes, insurance promotes access. But even when health plans are available, understanding them can become hurdles. Many consumers struggle to master policy elements like plan design and provider networks—a challenge that’s multiplied in communities with limited formal education.

Affordability

While insurance is designed to make healthcare more accessible, ‑ some families still face barriers especially when managing tight budgets and essential living expenses. For some, traditional premiums and out‑of‑pocket costs can be difficult to prioritize, even when coverage is available. Those are the barriers. Now, here are the solutions.

Adopting a Multilingual, Multi‑Cultural Approach

When reaching out to diverse populations, one‑size‑fits‑all communications aren’t enough. That’s why community health organizations and insurers like PALIG are increasingly developing multilingual outreach materials, including plainly written brochures, webpages and videos in English and Spanish.

In addition, we’re delivering our message through local, home‑grown agents who speak the language and live the culture, so they can connect with members of their community.

These strategies foster transparency and trust, leading to greater policy adoptions—and in turn, access to care.

Offering Simplified Plans and Low‑Cost Solutions

While traditional health insurance plans may not always meet the needs of underserved populations — often due to complexity or limited accessibility — there are ways to make coverage more inclusive and impactful. At PALIG, we’ve found that expanding health equity starts with offering that are easy to understand and tailored to real‑life needs. Our approach includes:

Core benefit plans that cover essential health services while keeping premiums accessible
Tiered options that give families the flexibility to choose what works best for them
Strategic negotiations with providers and pharmaceutical companies to help manage costs

In addition, our “no‑surprises” approach (i.e., transparent pricing, clear communication) creates growing confidence in our policies and services.

Serving Communities: Outreach

At PALIG, we believe that, while health insurance goes a long way toward improving access to care, it’s not the only way.

That’s why, through our PALIG Cares outreach program, we partner with local community organizations to provide charitable health, wellness and education services.

From providing a day of free medical services in Honduras…to funding school renovations in Trinidad and Tobago…to supporting pediatric cancer patients in Panama, we’re making a measurable positive impact on the communities we serve.

Recognizing Small Employers as Trusted Hubs for Access

In Latin America and the Caribbean, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often play a vital role in their communities. When they offer employee benefits that include health insurance, they can significantly advance their workers’ access to healthcare.

Here’s why it’s so effective:

Employees tend to place greater trust in their employers than in large, unfamiliar institutions. When employers demonstrate faith in an insurance provider, employees follow suit.
When employers host onsite enrollment meetings and wellness screenings, they put healthcare at their employees’ fingertips.
Group plans generally offer better pricing and streamlined enrollment compared to individual policies, making coverage more attainable and appealing.

For all these reasons, in a growing number of countries.

In short, we aim to serve not just as an insurer, but as a bridge.

And by partnering with local businesses and community groups, we can amplify inclusion and expand access to care.

To learn more about our health insurance solutions,

today and get started.