The Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade last month, and in the aftermath, employers and employees alike are left wondering what it means for their reproductive rights, and the benefits they have that protect them.
Fertility has become a
But the overturning of Roe v. Wade has made the future of fertility benefits uncertain.
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“We've been closely monitoring the impact the recent decision may have on fertility services,” says Roger Shedlin, CEO of WINFertility, a tech-enabled family-building management solution for employers. “This decision has added potential complexities [to family building] such as potentially needing to travel for treatment, as well as added costs for patients and third parties who are helping provide these benefits.”
And although providers haven’t seen any immediate changes to demand for fertility benefits, it’s safest to err on the side of caution and be prepared. Shedlin spoke to EBN about what the
How is the overturning of Roe v. Wade going to affect fertility and family-building benefit providers like WINFertility?
Before the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the space was growing quite dramatically. We were seeing a wide range of employers across industries, geographies and company sizes offering family-building benefits and waving the traditional clinical definition of infertility to include the LGBTQ community. And fortunately, since the Supreme Court decision, we’ve seen no slowing of those trends — no existing WINFertility client has expressed hesitation or discussed curtailing any of their benefits.
So in an interesting way, I think the focus is on reproductive benefits and the importance of those benefits. It further increased employers' desire to support their employees’ independence in this space. Since the ruling, a number of companies have come out and announced affirmatively that they were going to support employees and their benefits.
Are there ways in which the ruling is going to make it harder for people to start families?
No one knows the exact impact. The decision has a wide range of interpretations, but the most likely is that it will vary state to state — some states’ response to the ruling may be to attempt to limit certain IVF protocols while other states may consider laws to protect reproductive rights.
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We already know that certain select communities that disproportionately need IVF to build families — such as the LGBTQ community — are going to be sort of disproportionately impacted by any sort of limitation or restriction. But there is still a lot up in the air and we imagine a lot of this will play out in the state legislatures and potentially the state courts. But WINFertility is prepared to help our employers and clients regardless of their state’s outcome.
And what are some ways that providers can offer that kind of support?
You know many of our clients have reached out to ask the same questions you're asking — whether there will be an impact on fertility treatments. And the one thing we do know is that our programs can help mitigate the concerns of employees and their partners.
For example, a model that we offer is one-on-one clinical advocacy. Through that, we're able to provide information and support. As the variations by state increase over time, this type of clinical support model will become more important than ever. And what I mean by one-on-one clinical advocacy is that we have trained nurse care managers and behavioral coaches who can offer experience in administering customized benefit and funding solutions that are going to be ever more critical in the aftermath.
Overall, varying laws and regulations across different geographies for these treatments can create a layer of uncertainty and complexity for patients and their families. So committing to support and assist patients in navigating these complexities is going to be very important.
