Pat Geraghty

COVID-19 has changed how we live our lives. Many of us are working remotely. Some of our kids are learning virtually. And we’re all depending on technology to help us stay connected. This demonstrates that we didn’t let this pandemic stop us from doing what’s important. We found a way to do them safely.

As our country continues taking slow steps towards reopening our economy, it's important to begin easing your way back into your health care routines.

COVID-19 caused many of us to hesitate booking doctor's appointments, and most elective procedures were canceled all together.

Now more than ever, it's important to keep up with your children's checkups and your own annual physicals. Tele-health options are available for much of this care. Medical offices, clinics and other health facilities have made significant strides in ensuring their locations are safe and clean. And you're providing yourself added protection by wearing a mask, washing your hands, and keeping appropriate distance from others.

This week, like many of you, I am reflecting on the life and legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was a trailblazer for women’s equality and an icon for women of all ages.

After fighting gender discrimination early in her career, she paved the way for women through her support of numerous gender equality laws. That includes recognition of pregnancy discrimination; providing the right for women to apply for credit cards, bank accounts and mortgages without a male co-signer; and of course equal pay for women.

It remains of critical importance to maintain vigilance in our response to COVID-19.

As we all work to stop the spread, the most important step is still one of the easiest---wear a mask.

Masks help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto others. This can happen when you sneeze, cough or talk wearing a mask isn't just about keeping you safe. It helps protect our families and neighbors because symptoms often don't appear for several days after infection, a mask can help ensure that you don't spread the virus without knowing.

Innovation continues to be an increasingly important tool as we work to reimagine how care can and should be delivered. For us, being able to provide access to high quality, affordable health care is our top priority. We can’t do this without outside-the-box thinking and a creative approach.

It has become especially apparent how critical innovation is as the world fights back against COVID-19. Researchers, scientists and innovators across the globe are working to develop a vaccine for the virus. While that happens, we are relying on accurate and accessible testing. Currently, most of the COVID-19 tests are slow, expensive and – if you’ve had to take one – they can be pretty invasive.

Hello, everyone. It's no secret that 2020 is a challenging year in so many ways and for so many people.

Economically, it's been particularly hard on small businesses.

Long before the coronavirus forced businesses across the country to close, we were working to create a new product to help small businesses address affordability.

Nearly 60% of small businesses in Florida don't offer health insurance to their employees, often due to cost.

To answer their need for an affordable, innovative solution, we created Truli for Health, the newest affiliate of Florida Blue.

Truli is our health maintenance organization for HMO designed for small and mid-size employers that officially goes live July 1st.

Dear GuideWell employees:

Last Monday, we observed Memorial Day, the holiday when Americans honor the men and women who have died defending our country’s ideals serving in the U.S. military. And last Monday, George Floyd’s tragic, shocking death reminded us all that our country has a long way to go before its central promise of equality becomes reality. Last week and all weekend, the country reeled in pain and protest at George Floyd’s death, and with anger and frustration at the racism and inequality people of color still experience in America every day.

I want to take the opportunity this week to highlight another great example of the work we're doing to support our communities.

In response to COVID-19,we provided grant funding to organizations across Florida, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Our support the last few months has enabled several regional YMCA locations to repurpose closed facilities to offer emergency childcare at reduced or no cost for first responders and front line healthcare workers.This alleviated a huge burden for those selflessly serving on the pandemic's front line.

We're honored to have helped provide them with a safe and supportive location for their children while they were fulfilling critical work to keep our communities healthy.

While many of our local economies are beginning to take slow steps to reopen, we know for sure the implications for the coronavirus pandemic will be long lasting.

Caring for our members, customers, partners, and employees, as this situation evolves will require a long term, sustainable response.

We are uniquely positioned as a mission-driven health solutions enterprise, to respond to this pandemic in meaningful ways.

Our holistic approach to health care is what sets us apart. Our work goes far beyond providing quality health insurance, and the compassion we're demonstrating during these unprecedented times is reflected in our response efforts across our family of companies.

COVID-19 has the potential to change many things for the health care industry and for the way we operate.

We've long been advocating that everyone deserves access to high quality affordable care. COVID-19 doesn't change that, but it is accelerating our creative thinking so that in the midst of crisis we can continue moving our mission of helping people and communities achieve better health forward.

This pandemic has required us to reimagine how we do business and how we can best serve our members and communities.

We've been required to adapt, be nimble, and further lean in to our corporate value of imagination.

Stay-at-home orders forced us to temporarily close our Florida Blue centers.