Hasselbacher Lee A, Wingo Erin, Cacioppo Alexis, McHugh Ashley, Stulberg Debra, Freedman Lori
Ci3, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, Oakland, CA, United States.
Contracept X. 2022 May 7;4:100078. doi: 10.1016/j.conx.2022.100078. eCollection 2022.
The majority of United States (US) women age 15-49 have employer-sponsored health insurance, but these insurance plans fall short if employees cannot find providers who meet reproductive health needs. Employers could and should do more to facilitate and advocate for their employees through the insurance plans they sponsor. We conducted interviews with 14 key informants to understand how large United States employers see their role in health insurance benefits, especially when it comes to reproductive health care access and restrictions in religious health systems. Our findings suggest that large employers wish to be responsive to their employees' health insurance priorities and have leverage to improve access to reproductive health services, but they do not take sufficient action toward this end. In particular, we argue that large employers could pressure insurance carriers to address network gaps in care resulting from religious restrictions and require insurers to treat out-of-network providers like in-network providers when reproductive care is restricted.
美国15至49岁的大多数女性都有雇主提供的医疗保险，但如果员工找不到满足生殖健康需求的医疗服务提供者，这些保险计划就存在不足。雇主可以而且应该通过他们赞助的保险计划，为员工提供更多便利并进行倡导。我们采访了14位关键信息提供者，以了解美国大型雇主如何看待他们在医疗保险福利中的角色，特别是在生殖健康护理的获取以及宗教卫生系统中的限制方面。我们的研究结果表明，大型雇主希望响应员工的医疗保险优先事项，并有权改善生殖健康服务的获取，但他们为此并未采取足够的行动。特别是，我们认为大型雇主可以向保险公司施压，以解决因宗教限制导致的医疗服务网络缺口问题，并要求保险公司在生殖护理受到限制时，将网络外的医疗服务提供者视为网络内的提供者。
