On October 28, 2026, fertility-benefits manager Progyny released a study, presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) 2026 Scientific Congress & Expo, that tests a central claim of its industry: that comprehensive employer coverage makes fertility care equitable. The researchers looked at 12,516 patients who used Progyny benefits between 2024 and 2025. Even with the same coverage, people of color started treatment less often and waited longer than White patients. The study is titled "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Initiation of Treatment Within a Fertility Benefit Program." Its authors are affiliated with Progyny, Shady Grove Fertility–Jones Institute at EVMS/ODU, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York.

Why It Matters

Employer fertility benefits are the main way US family-building is paid for, and Progyny is the category leader. It recently reported a [record selling season with 1.2 million new lives for 2027](/stories/progyny-record-selling-season-2027). A vendor publishing data that its own product doesn't remove disparities is unusual. It's also a smart move with HR buyers, who increasingly ask for equity metrics. The commercial lesson is that the gap sits upstream of the clinic, in awareness, referral, time off work and trust. That's the space for navigation, coaching and community products. Coverage alone doesn't fix it. For femtech founders, these are rare, large-sample, real-world numbers on *initiation* rather than outcomes, and they suggest where the next set of benefit features (and acquisitions) will focus. One caveat: this is company-sponsored research presented at a conference, not yet a peer-reviewed paper. Watch whether Progyny publishes the full analysis and whether competitors (Carrot, Maven, Kindbody) release comparable data.

Compared with White patients, treatment-initiation rates were about 10% lower for Black patients, 19% lower for Asian/Pacific Islander patients and 11% lower for patients identifying as Other/Mixed. The average time from first consultation to starting treatment was 127 days for White patients, 136 for Black patients and 144 for Other/Mixed. Treatment choice also differed: Asian/Pacific Islander patients had 23% higher adjusted odds of starting IUI and 15% lower odds of starting IVF, the more effective option per cycle. The finding Progyny emphasizes is that once patients were in care, time from consultation to the cycle that produced a pregnancy was similar across groups, at 180 to 190 days.

"Expanding access to fertility benefits is an important step toward making care more equitable, but this research reminds us that coverage alone does not eliminate every barrier patients may face," said Progyny CMO Dr. Janet Choi. Shady Grove fellow Dr. Kyle Le, who presented the work, said the field needs to understand "who is getting to treatment in the first place." The study did not look at why the gaps exist. The authors list clinical need, patient preference, decisions to delay and access barriers as possible reasons.

Sources

Update — 2026-11-02

Initial entry — story first created.