Cigna Expands Access to Fertility and Family-Building Benefits

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Cigna Healthcare, the health benefits division of The Cigna Group, announced a new offering in collaboration with Progyny, Inc that will allow employers to offer fertility coverage that is more equitable and accessible for their staffs.¹ The expanded offering now includes opportunities for surrogacy, egg/sperm freezing and storage, doula services, and more.

"Employers understand that the road to parenthood can be challenging physically, emotionally, and financially, and they want to support their colleagues in reaching their family-building goals," said Heather Dlugolenski, senior vice president, US employer strategy officer, Cigna Healthcare. "Our newest offering helps make best-in-class, personalized care accessible and equitable for a wider range of employers, while helping people achieve healthy pregnancies, babies, and families."¹

Through this collaboration, employers have access to Progyny's Smart Cycle® design, where their coverage is based on fertility cycles instead of financial thresholds. Its network of more than 650 fertility clinics in the United States offers a suite of personalized services for any version of a growing family. Options also include surrogacy and adoption services, a common path for members of the LGBTQIA+ community.²

This new benefit will be available in early fall 2025. Cigna Healthcare will also continue to offer a range of fertility benefits based on the budgets and needs of its clients.

The call for increased fertility access comes with a growing trend of patients sharing information online, mainly on social media platforms like TikTok. Comment sections and groups have become more like public forums where people struggling with fertility issues can ask questions and share experiences without having to pay towards their deductibles. This makes what is often a very lonely process a shared one with a community of peers and even professionals to solicit advice and support from.

Many are impacted by infertility. Statistics show that one in eight couples will have complications with getting or staying pregnant, with about 58% of those people choosing to forgo fertility treatments because of the cost.² Fertility is an incredibly personal journey for any family facing difficulties, so access to customizable support is imperative.

Offering fertility care may also help to solve issues with attracting and retaining top talent. Most of the top-ranked workplaces reportedly offer reimbursement for fertility care, a majority at the request of their employees. Furthermore, recent Maven Clinic findings found that 70% of millennials said they would change jobs for the guarantee of fertility coverage.³

Sources

Cigna Healthcare Expands Access to Fertility and Family-Building Benefits and Services. Cigna Healthcare. January 13, 2025. Accessed January 14, 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cigna-healthcare-expands-access-to-fertility-and-family-building-benefits-and-services-302348568.html

Fertility Benefits: Are There Advantages to Adding Them for Your Company? Insight Global. November 14, 2022. Accessed January 14, 2025. https://insightglobal.com/blog/fertility-benefits-advantages-for-employees-employers/

Fertility benefits: what to actually cover and how to build them. Maven Clinic. Accessed January 14, 2025. https://www.mavenclinic.com/lp/fertility-benefits-what-to-actually-cover-and-how-to-build-them