Lack of access to high-quality, affordable fertility care is a massive problem, and one that our team at Carrot has been working with employers to solve. Today we’re making great strides with the introduction of the Carrot Card, a flexible fertility card for employees who have access to Carrot at work. The first-of-its-kind Carrot Card is the easiest way for employees to pay for treatment like egg freezing, in vitro fertilization (IVF), adoption, donor and gestational services, and more.
There is a growing demand for fertility care in today’s workforce, as more people face medical challenges or need more inclusive options to pursue parenthood. However, the high cost of fertility care and family forming is out of reach for most. Costs can range from $5k to $50k and can last for many months or years.
Without support from employer-sponsored health programs, most employees would never be able to access the treatments, medication, and services they need. The Carrot Card is a transformative benefit for employees who want or need fertility care because it removes the single most significant barrier to accessing high-quality care: cost.
The easy-to-use Carrot Card is a pre-funded card. Employees use the employer-sponsored card to pay for treatments and services at eligible Carrot provider locations at the time of service. No more paying out-of-pocket. No more waiting for reimbursements. The implications are huge. This new way for employees to access this life-changing benefit will make a difference to countless people.
We believe fertility care is a fundamental part of human healthcare. Everyone should have the opportunity to have a child. The Carrot mission is to make fertility care more accessible and affordable to everyone, beginning at work. We’re tackling a big problem. More than 80% of people who undergo fertility treatments have little to no coverage. They accrue an average of $30k in debt after undergoing fertility services, often relying on credit cards or loans or tapping their 401(k) to pay for treatment. The Carrot Card is a solid first step in solving the problem of access to fertility care.
In addition to financial coverage, Carrot offers high-touch employee support through this highly complex area of healthcare. Built by some of the top fertility doctors, researchers, and subject matter experts in the world, the Carrot Care Team provides each employee with clinical care navigation, which includes education and coaching, identifying top provider options in their area, and access to critical emotional support for them and their partners.
Employees also have unlimited access to medical chats with reproductive endocrinologists, emotional support experts, urologists, and adoption experts — a benefit that can cost up to $500 an hour if paid out-of-pocket.
This has been a record year for Carrot. Nearly 100 employer customers like Box, Slack, Stitch Fix, Foursquare, and Samsara are on track to fund more than $3B in new employer-sponsored fertility coverage to their employees in 2020, based on each company’s customized financial plan design. More than 50% of the companies we work with will offer fertility care benefits for the first time, extending this essential healthcare benefit to hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide.
Which brings us back full-circle to Carrot’s mission: fertility care for all. All of us at Carrot are committed to providing equal access to fertility care for everyone, everywhere — regardless of age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, faith, marital status, or geography. With the addition of the Carrot Card, we’re on our way.
*Carrot Card issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah-Chartered Industrial Bank, Member FDIC.
Any general advice posted on our blog, website, or app is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace or substitute for any medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Carrot Fertility makes no representations or warranties and expressly disclaims any and all liability concerning any treatment, action by, or effect on any person following the general information offered or provided within or through the blog, website, or app.
