Episode 155: #NIAW: The Catalyst to Bringing Fertility and Family Building Benefits to Her Employer

Ashley S.: So, six months or so passed and I still wasn’t pregnant. And obviously, you know, each month that passes that you aren’t pregnant you’ve experienced the full gambit of emotion, disappointment, and that was such a weight on me. I was diagnosed with PCOS, which came as a bit of a shock. My husband did all the testing himself and he was totally fine. Thankfully, I had a really supportive partner going through that because it is such a weight on you. My doctor was able to prescribe me a medicine called Clomid, which forces your body to ovulate.  

Dan Bulger: The upside of taking Clomid to achieve pregnancy is that it’s significantly simpler and cheaper than something like IUI or IVF. The downside is that it comes with significantly low success rates. 

Ashley S.: So, it was December, the last cycle that I could take it. And by that point, I had known that Progyny was coming. So, we finalized the plans in September, for January 1st, 2022, effective date. And we were actually able to call into the patient care advocacy line starting in November. 

I had my in-person consultation with Dr. Chang, and she did all of the bloodwork. She did the initial ultrasound. And she had actually wanted me to run some more tests. I think I was one day late on my cycle. And so, at that point, I’d stopped taking pregnancy tests, because I just assumed that it would never happen. So, I got I got a call later that day from the clinic. She said, “Well, you’re very obviously pregnant. Four weeks pregnant.” And I didn’t believe her at first, because I said, “There’s no way.” And then I started crying. And I brought my husband in and we took a pregnancy test. And it was very, very emotional. Such a blessing, that Progyny was able to give me that news, especially after trying for, you know, a year and a half and not being able to get pregnant. 

Dan Bulger: It worked, it took six rounds of Clomid, but that last round worked, and Ashley is pregnant and due in September, so she got to sign up for Progyny and had the chance to experience some of the process, meet her PCA and all that. But she was already familiar with the Progyny benefit and how it can help as she played a role in her employer selecting to add Progyny to begin with.

Ashley S.: That is why I was able to kind of get the conversation started and wanting to implement fertility benefits because it was such a personal journey that I was going through. And my boss at the time was very familiar with my struggles and very supportive. And so, when we were looking to incorporate more inclusive benefits into our plan year, she encouraged me to reach out and research different companies.

What stood out to me about Progyny was that they took out the financial consideration for employees out of the picture. So, a lot of the other vendors that I looked at provided a set dollar amount, whether that was 15, 20, 25 thousand dollars and, you know, once an employee had exhausted that amount, they were left out in the dust, you know, especially if they didn’t have a successful IVF transfer the first time. That didn’t sit right with me because I wanted employees to really have that burden just fully lifted off of them and not have to worry about the financial aspect. I didn’t feel like that was fair. So, when researching Progyny, the account management team was superb and amazing and flawless at what they do.

Dan Bulger: Most employers who add coverage like this do so because an employee asked for it. That being said, it’s tough. People don’t always want to walk around at work talking about their own personal struggle with infertility.

Ashley S.: It is very much still, you know, a quiet journey that people go through, it’s still not talked about very much it’s very, it still has a bit of a taboo attached to it, because people just don’t talk about it. And so, it can be a very lonely and isolating journey.

So many positive things have come from offering Progyny you know, whether it’s couples who are struggling to conceive, whether that’s their IVF journey, or even our LGBTQ+ employees who want to start a family or women who are not ready to have children and want to freeze their eggs, giving them that opportunity to focus on their careers for the moment and evaluate that at a later date when it’s more feasible for their for what’s going on at the time.

Dan Bulger: We asked Ashley, in what ways Progyny makes things easier for those who need it.

Ashley S.: They really take the hard work out of the equation for employees. So, I remember what I called into the patient care advocate line, I was given an entire list of available clinics and doctors. In the process of conducting benefits surveys, it is one of our more popular benefits, even though maybe a small percentage of the employee population may actually take advantage of the benefit, just knowing that we offer it in general is a huge plus.

I would encourage those who have the opportunity to advocate for coverage to speak to employees who are trying to conceive and to human resources. So, whether that’s through employee resource groups, or community groups, and getting that topic at the forefront of those who have the ability to make those decisions in front of their minds and get that plant that seed planted as early as possible. So, for the company to be able to offer that benefit, it’s life changing, and allows employees to have that flexibility and option to start a family when they otherwise might not be able to.