Abortion care is healthcare: This fintech company offers new benefit to increase access to reproductive services – Employee Benefit News
Easy access to safe abortion services should be a critical component to women’s healthcare, but this basic right has been undermined by legislation that makes it more difficult for women to seek out the care they need.
States like Texas and Mississippi have challenged women’s access to abortions through restrictive legislation, leaving many to ponder the fate of abortion rights in the U.S. To counteract these concerns, software platform Alloy is joining a growing list of companies that plan to cover employees’ medical, travel and legal expenses should they or their partner need access to abortion care.
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“Looking at abortion care, reproductive rights and healthcare broadly, the government has really fallen short,” says Laura Spiekerman, co-founder and chief revenue officer for Alloy. “Private companies have to step in to make what little we are given work. For us, that meant filling in these gaps where we’ve seen the government make some really bad decisions. And if we want to put our people first, we felt like this was a way to do it.”
Alloy, which helps banks and fintech companies automate their decisions for onboarding, transaction monitoring and credit underwriting, will support its 200 employees and their partners in finding and accessing safe, affordable abortion care services with up to $1,500 for out-of-pocket medical costs. Additionally, employees have access to up to $1,500 towards travel expenses if they need to go out of state for abortion care. Employees needing to utilize this benefit can reach out to Alloy’s people team, who will keep their needs confidential.
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One in four women in the U.S. will have an abortion by the age of 45, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization. But how easily she’ll be able to receive this care can depend heavily on where she lives. Many women are forced to seek care in other states because of the restrictive nature of some state laws. In Texas, for example, legislation enacted in May of 2021 says that any citizen can sue anyone who provides or assists in providing a woman with an abortion after six-weeks of pregnancy, a period in which many still don’t know they are pregnant.
“A lot of our team is based in New York, where there’s fewer of those restrictions, but we’re seeing a lot of those laws increase,” Spiekerman says. “There’s a number of states where they’re chipping away at these rights, legal case by legal case. And so we anticipate a continuation of that and we think that this benefit is a proactive way for us to help before it gets into a really bad place.”
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Alloy will cover 50% of legal expenses up to $5,000 if any employee or their partner suffers legal issues as a result of these anti-abortion laws. While this support is crucial for both the physicial and mental well-being of those seeking abortion services, employees aren’t the only ones who benefit from these policies, Spiekerman says.
“We don’t know what the cost will be at the end of the year, given that we don’t know who will take advantage of it, but if you want to attract and retain people, this benefit is really important,” she says. “This is an issue that has a disproportionate impact on women and people of color, so if you believe in an equal playing field, this is just one tiny way of chipping away at it.”
