Meet Oscar Health’s 2026 Culturally Competent Care grantees

Oscar Health’s mission is to give people more power over their healthcare. That includes understanding the social and cultural factors that shape people's health and designing care and experiences that respects different needs, values and beliefs. Our Culturally Competent Care (CCC) Grant Program supports organizations that work to increase access to care in underserved communities.

For our 2026 grants, we chose to focus on an area where significant healthcare disparities persist: care for people living with disabilities.

This year’s grantees are Communication Service for the Deaf and Chastain Horse Park. Each organization will receive $30,000 to address barriers that can prevent people with disabilities from getting care.

“Our mission is to give people power over their healthcare and that starts with making sure they can access care that understands and serves them,” said Dr. Lia Rodriguez, Chief Health Officer at Oscar Health. “Through our Culturally Competent Care Grant Program, we support community organizations that understand the barriers people face and are creating trusted initiatives that reflect their needs.”

Communication Service for the Deaf

Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) is the world’s largest deaf-led nonprofit, and has worked for more than 50 years to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing people can participate fully and equally in society.

With its grant, CSD will launch a one-year initiative called Healthcare Lingo 101, which will serve deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing residents in Texas with health insurance education in American Sign Language. Programming will include video modules on using preventive care, choosing in-network doctors, understanding out-of-pocket costs, reading EOBs, and filing appeals.

“People with disabilities already face significantly higher healthcare costs than non-disabled peers, so insurance literacy isn't just a comprehension gap, it's also a financial survival issue,” said Allysa Dittmar, Vice President, DeafHealth at CSD. “Without accessible content, many are left to miss preventive screenings or the chance to appeal a denial – not from lack of effort, but from lack of access to the process in their own language.

Chastain Horse Park

Chastain Horse Park is an equine-assisted therapeutic center in Atlanta, GA, empowering children, teens, and adults of all abilities to build life-changing relationships with horses.

Most Chastain Horse Park participants come from underserved, low-income communities, where the combined challenges of disability and financial hardship often put specialized clinical care out of reach. Chastain Horse Park will use its grant to support therapeutic programs, reach more people in the community and cover the full cost of sessions for participants with the greatest financial need.

“This funding connects our most vulnerable community members with life-changing, transformative experiences with horses, one step, ride, and session at a time,” said Marissa Greider, Director of Development at Chastain Horse Park.

Removing barriers to care

Since it began in 2021, our Culturally Competent Care Grant program has impacted the lives of thousands of people across the U.S. Our grantees have created educational programs, expanded access to insurance, and connected individuals with healthcare providers and services. We’re proud to support these two organizations that are removing barriers to healthcare.