Meeting women where they are with benefits for all life stages

This resulted in women having 94% more inpatient hospital admissions, 36% more urgent care and ER visits and 27% more outpatient surgeries.²

Companies that offer more comprehensive women’s health benefits may be able to better manage the costs associated with this utilization, as well as experience higher productivity, less absenteeism, better employee retention and an overall healthier group population.³ In fact, ensuring that women around the world can get the care they need may create a $1T global GDP opportunity, according to a recent report.⁴

There’s no one-size-fits-all health journey for women, and their health needs change significantly as they age. That’s why it’s critical for employees to have access to benefits and support that address their evolving health needs.

To help employers accomplish this, UnitedHealthcare continues to enhance its benefits — through internal and external collaboration with others across the industry — to deliver the products, solutions and experiences that meet the needs of women and their families, and ultimately close gaps in care.

Supporting adolescent girls and young women means ensuring that their parents and caregivers have access to health benefits and resources for their children and dependents.

As children transition into adolescence, their health needs evolve. Puberty brings about physical, hormonal and emotional changes — and those transitions may require extra support. For instance, teen girls are faring worse than boys when it comes to mental health.⁶ According to research, adolescent girls have a significantly higher prevalence of depression, eating disorders, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts compared to boys.⁶ Unaddressed mental health issues can also lead to risky substance use behaviors, which may have ripple effects for their health later on.⁷

To effectively support employees’ dependents, it’s critical that employers offer:

• Resources to help parents coordinate care
• Birth control resources
• Sexual health management, including sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, treatment and resources
• Education on key health topics
• Tools to find and price care
• Behavioral health and substance use support services
• Preventive care
• Gender dysphoria support

It’s also important that parents and caregivers have the ability to care for their dependent children when health needs arise with flexible work arrangements or robust leave policies. 

As adolescents transition into adulthood and join the workforce, they often begin receiving benefits through their own jobs rather than through their parents’ employers. However, many of the same health concerns persist or new ones begin to develop over time, with certain health issues and chronic conditions being more common among women compared to men:⁸

Certain network strategies and encouraging the use of primary care providers (PCPs) can be helpful in assessing and monitoring a woman’s risk for complex and chronic conditions, as well as ongoing condition management.

“Members that have a primary care physician tend to have a lower total cost of care,” says Dr. Gerald Hautman, chief medical officer of National Accounts for UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual. “And our research demonstrates that those members tend to have a better experience because they’re able to navigate our very complex health care system a little bit easier.”

Some women, particularly in younger generations, may seek the convenience of virtual appointments, virtual health clinics and other digital solutions to address health issues, whether they arise at home or work. This is one way employers can help their employees get the care they need while managing their busy lives, which is critical given that many women say work-life balance is important. In fact, “lack of flexibility around when I work” and “the role didn’t offer a positive work-life balance” were among the top 2 reasons surveyed women gave for leaving their jobs.⁹

The family building journey looks different for every person and includes many variables. While some may have no difficulties starting their family, others face challenges.

• 1 in 5 couples have difficulty getting pregnant after a year of trying¹⁰
• 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage¹¹

Offering fertility support solutions built to connect employees to specialists for early-stage and advanced-stage treatments, with the goal of quality outcomes and faster time to pregnancy and delivery, can help make this challenging process a little less daunting. These programs often also lead to lower costs, which is important considering a recent survey found that 75% of people experienced financial strain during their fertility journey, and nearly half felt unprepared for the cost of medications or hormonal treatments, genetic testing and diagnostic testing.¹²

“Navigating fertility can be extremely challenging,” Saul says. “At UnitedHealthcare, we’re working to meet employees where they are with tools and resources like online courses, search capabilities and self-scheduled meetings with nurses.”

Once pregnant, women may create a birth plan for their labor and delivery preferences. Employers can support their employees by offering coverage for a variety of preferences. For instance, because the doula and birth coaching market is growing,¹³ employers may want to ensure doulas are included in their plan coverage.

It also may be a good idea to review the breadth of provider and site of care options offered within a network, as well as the coverage and estimated out-of-pocket costs for prenatal care. This may include regular provider visits, ultrasounds, vaccinations and testing, as well as common labor and delivery interventions like epidurals, C-sections and more.

After giving birth, other needs may arise. For example, 74% of survey respondents reported experiencing mental or emotional challenges before, during or after their pregnancy or fertility journeys.¹⁴

Therefore, having behavioral health care options — or even better, an advocate who can directly connect members to behavioral health care support through a health plan that integrates medical and behavioral benefits — may lead to better outcomes and lower costs.

Additionally, providing time off to care for new family members has become increasingly important to employees. This can include offering extended parental leave, full pay for the duration of leave or alternative options to help subsidize employees’ income, such as short-term disability for maternity leave. Employers that step up their policies tend to have a competitive advantage in the eyes of employees, especially among those who plan to expand their families.

And when an employee’s parental leave ends and they return to work, different challenges may appear as they begin juggling both their professional and family responsibilities.