Philadelphia-Area Payers, Providers Stay Course on Health Equity Despite Trump Orders

May 23
May 23, 2025

Even as Donald Trump’s administration seeks to significantly curtail diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the U.S., a group of payers and providers in the Philadelphia-area are resolute about the work they’ve been doing to address health disparities. Speaking at the Population Health Colloquium at Thomas Jefferson University on May 9, they indicated that two programs Independence Blue Cross (IBX) helped launch in recent years continue to thrive and move forward. Those initiatives are Accelerate Health Equity, which began in March 2022, and the Regional Coalition to Eliminate Race-Based Medicine, which started in August 2023.

Trump signed an executive order on the day he took office in January revoking federal DEI-related programs in the federal government and among federal contractors, and the ripple effect has been felt in the private sector, too. However, Rodrigo Cerda, M.D., IBX’s chief medical officer, said that “I don’t think [the order] changes the fundamental mission in public health. You do have to treat diverse populations and meet them where they are and try to ensure that everybody’s brought up.”
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Tim Casey

Tim has been a reporter and editor for newspapers, websites and magazines for more than 20 years, including 10 years covering health care business topics. He has a deep knowledge of the managed care industry and pharmacy benefit management. He also has experience covering medical conferences and clinical and legislative health care issues. In 2014, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing selected Tim as one of 15 journalists to participate in a national symposium on the Affordable Care Act. Tim has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University.