In the war for talent, employers have realized they must offer more robust benefits that support employees in their lives outside of work. One area where employee interest has been growing is in fertility benefits.
Welltok, a well-being platform, is boosting their family planning support by adding benefit providers Maven and Progyny to its suite of offerings. The programs will help close the care gap for minorities and those who cannot afford the expense of
Maven, a women’s and family digital health company, offers fertility,
“We should be offering interventions that really address the entire family journey,” says Winston Ball, vice president of Welltok’s Connect Partner Ecosystem. “[It’s about] helping folks address all the different things that go into pregnancy, dealing with the pregnancy, and what comes after the baby is born.”
Women are becoming
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Health insurance coverage for IVF treatments isn’t common and the average cost of IVF runs between $11,000 and $12,000 per cycle, but this can vary depending on the clinic, according to data from the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago. There are other treatments including ovarian stimulation plus intrauterine insemination that are less expensive than IVF, but they are also less effective.
Additionally, these programs often exclude minorities, due the prohibitive costs and disparity in healthcare access. The addition of Maven and Progeny will help Welltok reach these populations and guide them through this stage of their lives.
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“There's been a disproportionate number of people of color who just haven't had access to quality care and a C-section can easily cost someone $15,000,” Ball says. “A lot of that can be circumvented through education, through access to resources and other interventions.”
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The new partnership brings fertility benefits to the forefront of the conversation around how to best support women, people of color and LGBTQ employees. It’s also one that’s been a long time coming.
“The start of life and beginning of a family is a critical inflection point — not only for child, parent and family, but for the healthcare system as a whole — and it’s time we start treating it that way,” Sonia Millsom, chief commercial officer at Maven Clinic, said in a release. “Through Maven, employers and health plans can offer continuous, holistic care from the time a person is thinking about having children through pregnancy into the first decade of parenting."
