Women’s Health and Healthcare Costs: What Employers May Be Overlooking

Your healthcare cost strategy may address high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic conditions. Does your women’s health strategy connect to that work?

Fertility, maternity, and menopause benefits provide valuable support. But women’s health also includes cardiovascular and metabolic risks that develop between and across those life stages. An employee can have access to specialized benefits and still need help understanding an elevated blood pressure result, completing recommended care, or making changes to her nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress.

That makes women’s health part of the healthcare cost conversation: How are you helping women address risks before their needs become more complex?

In WTW’s 2026 Wellbeing Diagnostic Survey, 76% of employers ranked healthcare costs among the top three workforce issues they address through wellbeing programs, and 63% identified chronic conditions. Women’s health deserves a clear place in that approach.

Where women’s health benefits can leave gaps

Having access to benefits doesn’t always mean employees feel supported or know how to use them.

In a 2026 article, Mercer Marsh Benefits highlights findings from its 2025 Health on Demand research: only 56% of women agree their employer’s benefits meet their needs, compared with 62% of men.

Gaps often appear in the support employees receive between and across major life stages. Hormonal changes and life challenges can affect sleep, stress, nutrition, activity, and overall health. Even with extra benefits, an employee may still need help understanding a high blood pressure reading, knowing what to ask her provider, or making lasting changes to her routine.

As we explore in Rethinking how workplaces support women’s health, a more complete approach connects preventive care, risk identification, and personalized guidance.

Expand preventive care, then support follow-through

Employers are paying more attention to women’s preventive care. Business Group on Health’s 2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey, found that 58% of employers planned to expand preventive care for women in 2026, up 22 percentage points in two years.

This investment leads to an important question: How will employees know what care they need, and how will they take the next step?

Spotting a health risk is just the beginning. Employees need clear guidance and support to follow through.

Make the next healthy action clear

Navigate’s Health Dashboard connects preventive care and chronic condition guidance in one personalized experience. Employees can see recommended care, learn why it matters, and track next steps. Education, reminders, and incentives help them follow through. Employers also gain a clearer view of care gaps and care completion across teams.

Think about an employee managing high blood pressure. She might need help with follow-up care, knowing what to ask her provider, and finding practical support for nutrition, movement, or stress. Navigate's Health Dashboard helps employees act on care recommendations before risks become more serious and costly.

Connect recommendations with everyday support

Every woman’s needs are different, depending on her health risks, interests, goals, and where she is on her health journey. Navigate offers support for women’s health through workplace challenges, video courses, educational content, a health library, workouts, and recipes. These resources give employees practical ways to learn and build healthier habits in their daily lives.

One woman might start with a video course. Another may look for recipes to support her nutrition goals or workouts that fit her busy schedule. Someone else may need a personal conversation to work through barriers she’s facing.

Where Women’s Health Coaching fits

Navigate Women’s Health Coaching brings personalized guidance into the broader wellbeing experience.

The five-session program includes four sessions with a Women’s Health Coach and one session focused on mental wellbeing.

Personalized. Each experience is tailored to a woman’s life stage, health risks, and goals, connecting her to: nd metabolic health education.

• Nutrition and physical activity

• Sleep and stress management

• Emotional wellbeing

• Preventive care guidance

• Cardiovascular risk education and sustainable behavior change

Coaching works alongside healthcare providers and specialty benefits. It helps women understand their health, speak up for the care they need, and make lifestyle changes that support their overall wellbeing.

Hear Dr. Musick and St. Luke’s Dawn DuBois discuss this connected approach on Navigate’s People First podcast.

Ask yourself: What happens after a health risk is identified?

When evaluating your women’s health strategy, look at the path from information to action:

• Can employees understand their risks and recommended care?

• Do they have practical resources and personal support to follow through?

• Can your partner show where care gaps remain and help focus outreach?

• Which measures will demonstrate care completion and health improvement over time?

These questions bring women’s health into the healthcare cost conversation with a clear purpose: helping employees take action sooner and tracking real progress over time.

Talk with Navigate about connecting women’s health, preventive care, and personalized support →