Women Employees' Health Need Cognizance And Care
According to one of the data from the World Bank, since Covid-19 came in, female employment in India dropped down by 9 percent in 2022. The work stress among women led to many hormonal disbalance and impacting their sexual health that further resulting into diseases like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and Endometriosis. One in every five women have PCOS in India which later creates obstruction in conceiving a child. Whereas, IVF treatment is expensive and does not get covered in corporate group insurance policy
As every company is striving to increase female employability, they are ready to give away many excess facilities in the form of leaves and medical coverage. Corporates are providing menstrual leaves, maternity coverage in medical insurance, and coverage of IVF expenditure in health insurance policies.
Plum which is a health insurance platform requests these corporate companies to add IVF into medical health insurance and many companies are following this and include IVF expenditure into their medical health insurance coverage. Google, Flipkart, Meesho, Darwinbox, are few of those companies.
The CEO and Co-Founder of Plum, Abhishek Poddar said "For the longest time, infertility did not come under the purview of insurance. It is now time for women's sexual health to receive the attention it deserves. As companies embark on this endeavour, it is important to remember that this change will require full commitment. At Plum, we have incorporated covers like infertility and surrogacy as well. "
Women who are multi-taskers and have been struggling for their equal representation, deserve more policies that would care for their well-being. Kriti Rastogi, Director, Plum, says, "Today, an IVF treatment costs around Rs. 1.5 lakhs, laparoscopy around Rs. 75,000, and a hysterectomy costs anywhere from Rs 1.32 lakh to Rs. 2.75 lakh. However, most companies in India do not cover these treatments under their Group Health Insurance (GHIs).
